


Oh my God?

by JustAPracrice



Category: (여자)아이들 | (G)I-DLE
Genre: 3rd and 4th generation, All girls school, Elementals, F/F, Focus on Plot, Ps spelling ain't my forte, Shuhua is a bit special, So are the teachers, all the siblings are OC, different perspectives every update, first fanfic, give me all the constructive criticism, kinda inspired by Avatar and Hogwarts, please enjoy, slowish start, teen cause cursing, title is a coincidence, updates random but frequent enough
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:47:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 49,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26355193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAPracrice/pseuds/JustAPracrice
Summary: Shuhua's life is full of secrets.  The main secret-keeper being her own big sister.  What happens when each secret gets reveled.  The first one being that she might be an Alien.OrShuhua gets sent to an all-girls boarding school in another dimension and finds her powers and maybe even a love interest.
Relationships: Cho Miyeon/Minnie Nicha Yontararak, Jeon Soyeon/Song Yuqi, Seo Soojin/Yeh Shuhua
Comments: 39
Kudos: 86





	1. Prologue

Shuhua.

* * *

Everyone, I’m rich! Okay maybe not technically, but I definitely look rich now. What do I mean by that, you might be asking? Well, today my sisters and I just moved into a Daechi-dong apartment, as in Gangnam’s Daechi-dong, one of the richest freaking places in Seoul, Korea! That’s right, 16 year old, excuse me, I meant 17 year old middle child, Miss Yeh Shuhua, is moving into some free fancy-smancy apartment. Yeah, I said free, no need to re-read. Also if you haven’t figured out that I’m not Korean, by how I mistook my age or by just my name, I would like to inform you that I am in fact from Taiwan. Also for the sake of simplicity I will be using international age to explain everything because Korean age still confuses me. So, I moved here when I was 12, and my older sister- Meiling was 16, and my younger sister- Tingwei was 6. No parents, we sort of, kind of, how do I put this… okay simply; we ran away. I was rich before too, just so you know, my parents were loaded. I never understood why Mei didn’t just steal like a bunch of our mothers gold or diamond jewelry before we left, life would have been so much easier the last 4 years if she had. Why didn’t I instead? Because Mei is a freaking secret-keeping idiot who didn’t tell me we were gonna run until we were running. She said she kept it to herself because I would have blabbed to Ms. Wu, our cook. I told her that me and Wu are tight and that she would have helped us, Mei disagrees, whatever. A day in the park she said, a trip to the airport she meant. I love that idiot with all my heart but she could have at least given me the heads up, but apparently I am also an idiot because I followed her on the plane.

Now, this should be the point where I tell you exactly why a bunch of little rich girls ran away from home, except I do not for the life of my know that freaking reason. My parents, mostly my father, were strict shitholes that partook in semi-casual physical abuse and even more casual verbal abuse, but it definitely was not enough for us to leave the whole country for. Although it’s all kind of a blur for me, sis definitely remembers. Oh wait, we have to remember that Mei is a secret-keeping idiot. My sister is older, and definitely experienced the most wrath from our parents from simply being alive longer, however she didn’t make it any easier on herself either I must say. That girl was a whole ass rebel if you've ever seen one. She dyed her hair, got piercings, kissed girls, smoked, cursed, crashed cars, and literally anything else you could think of, and all before she became a soft, secret-keeping idiot. My parents hated her, and probably still do. Anyway, initially I thought that my parents did something horrible to her after that 5th car incident, but apparently I was wrong. One day, when I was like 14, we were having some spam and rice for dinner and the topic of her newly formed black eye came about. I told her it looked like the one she got that morning we had run away, she agreed and said that all old bums punch the same (some drunk asshole got mad at her for the microwave not working at the convenience store she works at). Then, I asked her if that was why we left. She chuckled and said “Nah, it was something else. I’ll tell you when you're older, but let's just say I’m not the only one keeping secrets”. And ever since then I have literally not stopped thinking about that second sentence, like does that mean she has even more shit she doesn't tell me? And what did our parents keep secret that was so massive it meant we needed to flee the country and change our last names. Oops, sorry, forgot to mention that, you see our parents are known as Mr and Mrs Jong. Yup, Jong Shuhua, gotta be honest saying that after so long, it definitely does not have any ounce of ring to it. Plus, with Yeh I can make way more jokes, like "Yeh man, wassup." Okay, maybe I shouldn't make jokes. Anyway, that's all I have on the runaway story. Oh wait, right! This morning when Mei, on the freaking anniversary of our disappearance, hauled us and all of our stuff up to Gangnam, she mentioned that the people paying for our apartment were the ones who helped us run away. That’s why we went to Seoul, because the people from secret-keeping idiot Mei’s secret freaking plan live here. 

\------------------------------

“Gangnam”, I sighed, “Freaking Daechi-dong.” 

“Yeah I know, you’ve been saying that non-stop for the past hour, can you stop being so passive aggressive dude,” Mei said. I turned to her, she was unpacking one of Wei’s boxes.

“Passive, excuse me I am just freaking aggressive because you're a secret-keeping idiot who could have asked for money at least once in the past 4 years from the rich asses who sent us to Korea,” I snapped at her, she sighed. The girl didn’t steal any jewelry from the mean fucks and she didn’t get money from people who apparently illegally smuggled us into Korea and gave us new identities. Maybe their idiots too, they literally only supplied Mei with new passports, 3 plane tickets, and 1 phone, no money nor apartment. Should I add the fact that we were 16, 12 ,and freaking 6 years old at the time. Like “hello” we could have, and literally almost, died without anything. Guaranteed we didn’t, obviously, but that proves absolutely nothing. 

“Can you stop calling me that it’s getting old,” Mei said, avoiding my remark.

“No I will not, it’s the only insult I can say successfully in both Mandarin and Korean without sounding like a child,” I told her.

“Ha, she's right! I never thought about that. You do really sound much cuter than me in Korean, and I’m the actual child,” Wei piped in. 

“Shut up, I thought you were on my side!”

“She’s the one unpacking my boxes while you’re just laying on my bed complaining, my new bed, I should mention,” Wei replied. 

“But I pay your phone bill.”

“Mei paid for the phone.”

“I style your clothes.”

“That’s only on non-school days, and Mei bought me all my clothes, remember?”

“Well, I walk you to school”

“Because your school is literally on the same lot.”

“You do know that I could just leave every morning without you.”

“Yeah right, I’m the one who wakes you up.”

“Smart ass.”

“Lazy butt.”

“Freaking ungrateful kid.”

“Hormonal teenager.”

“Tiny Bit- “

“Stop it!” Mei cut me off. “You do realize you’re fighting with a 10 year old, Shuhua.”

“I realize, she’s just getting on my nerves,” I said through my teeth. “Actually scratch that, I’m projecting onto her because I’m mad at you,” I shot up and looked at Mei, “Seriously sis, you could have told me about these people, you can still tell me who they are even, or why we left, or why we couldn’t have been living here this whole time instead of that freaking banjiha, which was literally a freaking basement of a home. I’m older now, I can understand whatever it is, heck even Wei could probably take it, that smart ass genius, “ I pleaded with her. She stared back at me, I know she wants to tell me, I can see it. But I also know she won’t say a single thing about our parents, I gave up on that years ago. “Come on, I’m not actually mad, you know? I like it here, and I’m glad we’re away from those shitty people. It’s just we almost didn’t make it that first year alone, and I kinda wanna know why these rich idiots didn’t give us money to survive, instead they left a 16 year old girl, a scared tween, and a toddler alone to fend for themselves in a city where they didn’t even know the language,” I sighed and laid back down. 

“I know you want to know, I know you deserve to know, but I still can’t tell you what our parents were doing,” so they were ‘doing’ something? She continued, “Look Mr and Mrs Song are good people, they did all that they could for us, and at least now you get to meet them,” she finished. Wei was pretending she didn’t care about this conversation, and instead opted for playing Flappy Bird on her new phone. I heard the bird hit the pipe and then I walked over and crouched next to Mei. 

“Fine,” for some reason I know I can trust her, so I decided that was enough pushing for today. Okay, maybe one more push, “Anyway are these dummies just paying for our apartment or are they giving us any cash?” 

“Yeah cash money,” Wei piped in, lifting the mood some.

“You know Mrs. Song did say something about an allowance now that you mention it,” she put their finger on her chin thinking.

Me and Wei locked eyes, “Fuck yeah,” we said in unison. 

“Hey I won’t give it to you if you keep cursing, Wei is starting to talk like you,” Mei said scowling, but I she’s smiling smiling on the inside. That secret-keeping idiot won’t even let herself be happy about some money. 

“Oh come on you used to curse all the time sis,” I was teasing her. She shook her head.

“Really, yeah right, Mei is a saint,” I forgot the little rascal doesn't remember anything important. 

“You seriously still don’t believe me,” I shake my head and click my tongue. “I guess I should force you to believe me,” I said as I stood up walking towards her to the other side of her big ass room.

“What does that even mean Shu?” I jumped on her and started tickling. 

Mwahah, you cannot escape the hands of God herself,” she was squirming while laughing uncontrollably.

“We aren't even… religious… you prick… get off of me!” She said in between her laughs. 

“Nuh uh, not till you believe me genius.”

“Fine fine… Mei is- “

“Full name please.”

“Ugh… Meiling… isn’t… a freaking… Saint.”

“And.”

“And she… curses.”

“Good.” I stopped and got off her. 

“This proves nothing,” she stated mater-a-factly, although out of breath.

“I know,” I chuckled.

“Hello you must be Shuhua and Tingwei,” Wei and I were startled and looked left where Mei was standing at Wei’s doorway with some nice looking, middle aged lady. We must have been too caught up to realize Mei had left and came back. “I’m Mrs Song Huan, you can just call me Aunt Huan,” she’s speaking mandarin, “Meiling has told me so much about you both and I have been waiting so long to meet you, I hope we come to be great friends,” she finished looking at us with eyes filled with hope. 

Silence, me and Wei are shy I guess and this lady, I mean Aunt Huan, is too nice. Nicer than anyone I have ever encountered at least. Plus she feels really nice too, like happiness is all she gives. 

“Um sorry, they're kind of shy,” Mei saves us, “Come on guys at least greet her,” she tells us. 

Oh right almost forgot my manners, we stood up and started to bow. “Hello, thank you for your kindness, this place is almost too big,” I smiled at her and she smiled back. Wei was still quiet. I nudged her in the shoulder.

“Ow. Oh, sorry Aunt Huang. Thank you very much, I really like my room,” she gestured to the room we were standing in. The genius has never had her own room, she must be excited.

“It’s my pleasure, I’m sorry I didn’t move you in before, I know it must have been hard. But, I’m glad we can help you now.” What with this whole ‘not being able to help us before thing’ I keep hearing? So, annoying not knowing anything, now there's more people than just Mei in on the secrets.

“All is coolio, my friend, can’t wait to live here,” I said.

She chuckled, “Well I’m glad there's no more wait.” She began to turn around, “Follow me, you girls should meet my husband, he’s been waiting to say ‘hi’ too.” We began to walk down the hall to the elevator. She pressed the button and began again, “Oh and my daughter should be here any minute from boarding school for the summer, she’ll be surprised to see you girls. I bet she’ll be jealous by dinner,” she smiled fondly. The door opened and we walked in, I stood next to her. “But I know you will all make great friends,” Mrs. Song looked at me, “She’s your age.” Oh sweet, I let out a grin and looked at sis, she shook her head in a very firm but discrete manner. Ugh fine, I nodded back a little disappointed. Oh well, next time. 

“Do you have any other kids?” Wei asked.

“No, sorry sweety just the one, she’s a big baby though so don’t worry too much.” She seems quite happy thinking about her daughter. Must be nice.

“Shu’s a big baby too,” Wei thought hard as the elevator stopped, “If what you say is true Aunt Huan, this is going to be a chaotic summer,” she sighed. I narrowed my eyes at her, I was trying to make a good first impression dammit. 

Mrs. Song beat me before I could say anything, “Is that so? I can’t wait,” she chuckled back, why does this lady feel so freaking happy goodness. The doors opened, oh my freak it’s the penthouse suite. 

“Wow,” Wei and I said together. 

“Make yourselves at home, I’ll go get Jian. He must be in his office,” Mrs. Song said as she walked off down a hall. Yeah A freaking hall, as in more than one. This place was huge, the elevator opened up to the living room, and as the name suggests I could literally live here. There’s three large couches, and there’s an electric fireplace further behind with two love seats and a red rug in front of it. Facing the couches is a glass counter and a big ass TV. Like just the TV and shelves full of movies and games surrounding it is more than I could even fit in our living room, which mind you was also the kitchen and bedroom. Mei started for the balcony, the balcony which was literally part of the freaking room. It looks like the glass doors lower down automatically from the tall freaking ceiling. We followed her out and maneuver around the pool and tables with umbrellas attached to them. 

“Oh my God,” Wei said like the view took her breath away. And damn well it did. 

“Oh my God is right,” Mei answered back. 

“I thought we didn’t believe in God,” I looked at Wei. That took her out of the trance. 

“You seriously gotta ruin it Shu,” she snapped at me.

“That’s kinda my job, you genius,” I laughed and pat her head.

She grunted and slapped my hand away, “No you’re job is at that ganky supermarket,” she retorted and smirked.

“Hey don’t make fun of my job, remember I pay for your phone bills.”

“Oh I can take care of that now,” some mans’ voice said, startling us. Why the heck do people always have to quietly waltz in on me and Wei’s beef. 

“Huh?” I asked the man, who was way too well dressed for home. 

“The phone bill I mean,” he said with a smile, “ And the job part too really.”

“What?” Wei asked this time.

He chuckled, “I should introduce myself first, I’m Song Jian, you can call me Uncle Jian, nice to meet you,” He said now extending his arm for a handshake. Wei took it and introduced herself and I did the same next. He must already know Mei, obviously. The dude is good looking for his age, can’t deny that, nice hair, expensive clothes, smooth skin. Seriously, not to be ungrateful or anything, but come on, his hair gel could have paid our rent. Just sucks I guess. We finished our handshake and he looked at me and said, “I do plan on repaying you for the 4 years of my absence, how about we discuss an allowance over dinner?” The fuck, he just read my mind, cool it’s money time. Wait he just said ‘allowance’, Mei wasn’t kidding. Nice, I could feel Wei get excited too.

“Oh that’s really nice of you Uncle, these rascals will be so happy with that,” Mei said while petting us on our shoulders from behind.

“Great, it will be ready in a couple hours, let’s wait in the living room and catch up. 

\------------------------------

By ‘let’s catch up’ Mr. Song was definitely just referring to sis. Good thing too, if it’s awkward just sitting on the couch adjacent to the couple, it would be much more awkward with actual words in between us. Mei was always the extrovert between us three, in her teens she was a party girl too. I think our genes did me wrong. They gave Mei the talking skills, Wei a freaking genius brain, and me, I got not special. Don’t get me wrong, I’ts not like i got nothing, I think I’m fucking beautiful (objectively, of course), but we literally are all just variations of the same flower; 3 sets of milky white skin and dark, straight-brown hair. So, it literally feels like I have been looking at 2 other variations of me my whole life (that is what they really are anyway), nothing extra to give me a leg up to them. Mei is probably going to finally go to university with our new source of income, and is going to become some big shoot ‘something’. Probably in some sort of sales or advertisement, yeah she could do that. Wei is already a grade ahead, and I’m sure in whatever fancy public school this neighborhood has is going to teach her even quicker and she’ll graduate early at the top of her class. I, on the other hand, am not smart in the slightest. Like I have been in Korea for 4 years, but when I speak it sounds like I don’t know anything, and I probably don’t too. Speaking of talking, I have just now realized that I literally can’t speak in two freaking ways, why do I have to be shy and dumb? Maybe I should try to become famous, I like acting, but then there's all that script reading. Oh, singing could work, all I have to do is memorize pronunciation. Plus I was taking singing lessons back in the homeland, ha the Song’s might disagree, they’re from Beijing, China apparently. You know I could even be part of some kpop girl gr-

The sound of the elevator took me out of my crazy thoughts. “Ah so good to be home!” the sound of a girl with a loud husky voice came from the elevator. I peeked behind me as the Song couple went to greet their apparent daughter. From here, without a view of her face, it looks like she has straight black dyed hair and is around my height. She’s wearing a full on pink on pink outfit, pastel denim pink jacket and the same color straight pants, with white tennis shoes. This girl is really something, to be wearing that in public she must like the attention. It is cute though, oh I can see her face now, yup she’s cute too makes sense.

Wei tapped on my shoulder, “She’s really pretty,” she said with heart eyes.

“Oh not you too, I thought at least You would at least have it easy,” I said as I sighed.

“‘You too’, what does that mean,” Wei questioned me with a side eye. 

“Once you hit puberty I’ll tell you, my dude,” I said as I pat her shoulder and we sat back correctly while the family exchanged hugs and words.

“Wait, does that mean you and Mei also li- “

“Oh hello, you must be the guest my mom texted me about earlier,” the cheery girl interrupted us. Every time really. The Song’s must be ninjas or something. Also she doesn't already know about us? Finally, I’m not the only one in the dark. I mean there’s Wei but she literally doesn't care, her life has always just been with us, so I guess it makes sense. This girl should be just as confused as I am, we're random to her. 

“Yes, that us,” Mei stood up and turned around to face her. She did a quick bow and motioned us to stand up. We did and she continued to talk to the cutie, “Hello my name is Meiling, and these are my little sisters,” she guested to us and we bowed.

“Hello my name is Shuhua, nice to meet you,” I said.

“I- um… I’m Tingwei,” Wei stutters, goodness she definitely has a crush on her. Makes sense too, the girl is really good looking, not my style though, but whatever. She looks like her dad if Mr. Song had lost his sharp features and was a teenage girl. Didn’t think smartypants would be into the cute type. 

“Hiya kiddo, I’m Yuqi,” Yuqi said while bowing down to meet her height. She shot back up quickly and said to me “Shuhua right? Mom said one of y'all is my age, must be you right?” She said like an excited puppy. Damn she’s really nice too, genuine like her mom, why the heck have I not met these people yet?

“Yeah, here I’m 17, but internationally I'm 16,” she smiled wider, “Oh, my birthday is in January too, if that's important.”

“Yay, this is awesome. I'm 16 too, 18 in Korea though because my birthday is in a couple months, September.” She took my hand and turned it into a handshake, “I hope we can be good friends, well except if we talk in Korean you would call me Unnie, but like still,” she beamed at me. I want to return the excitement, I really do, but this happy fuck is way higher than me. It’s a little intimidating, I should add. So instead I just smile and nod. Apparently this is enough confirmation for her, because she pulls on my hand and brings me in for a big over-the-couch hug. Oh, she’s nervous too I can tell by the hug, unexpected, well then I guess I’ll hug her back. 

\------------------------------

Dinner time. I haven’t had a family, sit together, two fork, tablecloth dinner in 4 years. I do not miss it in the slightest. This shit is taxing on my manners. Mr. Song sits at the head of the long ass table (there's like 10 chairs on either side, really too much for a three person family), Mrs. Song on his left and Yuqi on his right. Mei sits next to Mrs. Song, and I sit across from her next to Yuqi, and Wei sits beside me. Their staff just brought out some roasted duck and dumplings, with a bunch more sides. Sis and the couple are drinking sweet white wine, and the rest of us have some water cups. It feels like a restaurant. Heck it even looks like a restaurant, the large and steel kitchen can be seen from the dining room from a big rectangle hole in the wall on the longways side of the table. I’m facing it and I can’t even tell if there’s glass in between us or not, there must be because I don’t hear much, but it definitely doesn't look like it. Wei looks kind of lost, she barely remembers family dinners. And she definitely does not remember the taste of duck. She just took a bite and I swear I will never be able to make her this satisfied. Anyway I should probably pay attention to the conversation.

“So, how was finals hard, easy, or easy peasy lemon squeezy?” Mr. Song asked Yuqi while wiggling his eyebrows, obviously in an attempt to make her laugh. It worked, and I don’t freaking know how, that was lame and not even a joke. 

“Definitely easy peasy, Dad, I think I am finally getting the hang of everything. It rocks you know,” she raised one eyebrow and smirked, and he chuckled back. I don’t get their humor and I don’t get their eyebrows. Mrs. Song seems pretty keen on ignoring that though. 

“Oh right, did you get it?” she asked.

“Yup.” She replied in a low smug tone, or maybe just smug, her voice is already quite low. 

Yuqi and her dad high five, “That’s great honey, or should I say E-4 representative honey,” he said with a huge smile. 

“'E-4?' Is that like the president or something?” Wei asked before I could. 

Everyone’s mood, except mine and Wei’s, slightly tensed up, but they mask it well. “Yes it means exactly that sweety,” Mrs. Song replied unperturbed. 

“Oh cool, so like the entire sophomore grade?” Wei deducted, not noticing the slightly tense air. 

“Um, yeah, sophomore, that's it,” Yuqi said. “It’s a boarding school, so that means I’m in charge of our dorms too, I even get a singles room,” she’s back to her excited self. This led to Wei asking more questions about boarding school and talked about public school too. Apparently Yuqi goes to an all girls boarding school, called ‘something we wouldn’t know’, and they only have dress codes and no uniforms. Those last two things are a little weird, but I am more stuck on the fact of what the heck kind of class is called ‘E-4’ and why that is such a big deal to these people and my sis? I was wrong, it seems Yuqi does at least know some of the secrets, how mighty freaking unfortunate, I am still alone in the dark. 

Yuqi is helping us unpack. Let me rephrase, Yuqi, the rich ass boarding school girl, is happily helping us unpack at 8:00 in the afternoon. And here’s the kicker she said she wanted to, then her parents said she didn’t have to, she still wanted to. I don’t know if I’ve been living under a rock that shaded me from all of the freaking good people in the world or something, cause I am freaked the fuck out. Every single rich person I met before, every single poor person I’ve been around for the last 16 years, have been absolute shit. Like it doesn't make any sense, the only good people I know are my sisters, but they are like mentioned, my sisters, so it’s like an unwritten rule that we’re asses to each other at least half the time. For Wei and me it’s at least like ¾ of the time. It’s been 2 and a half hours since I met Yuqi, like 4 since I met her parents, and damn has there not been anything done with any ounce of ill intent. I need to befriend this girl fast so I can start cussing at her, it’s weird holding my tongue. 

Mei and Wei have moved to the living room to help set up all the stuff the Song’s got for us while Yuqi and I are starting on my room. And I think we are about to have our first conversation, wish me luck.

“Hey, so are your parents coming later, I would like to meet them too,” she started. Really Yuqi, really, you just had to start there. 

“Um no, you definitely would not,” I chuckled and she looked at me confused from the other side of the bed. I thought she would have figured out from the lack of parent-talk at dinner. 

“What, why, are they boring or something?” 

“Man, you really do live in some princess world don’t ya?” She’s still confused and waited for me to continue. “You see Yuqi, my parents are what I like to refer to as massive shit-heads,” fuck the no cursing rule, she looked at me with cute scrunched eyebrows not knowing what to say. “Sorry, what I mean is that they are bad people to like the core, they are just as rich and powerful as your parents except they like to use their money to fuck with people instead of give people fancy apartments,” she nodded grasping the situation better. And it looks like she has a question.

“You said ‘give people fancy apartments’, my parents paid for this?” She gestured to my room while opening the last of my three boxes. Maybe she only knows just one secret.

“Yeah, they did, real nice of them really,” she smiled at that.

“Does that mean your parents are not here?”

“Not even close. They are still in Taiwan, we left them four years ago, ran away to Seoul.”

“Oh… why?” she’s hesitant to ask.

“Well that I’m not too sure of that, maybe your parents will disclose that information to you. But the gist of it is that our parents were not only shit-heads to other people, they were also shit-heads to us,” I’ll let Miss Class President fill in some of the holes for herself, but for now I don’t feel like talking about this boring shit. Hmm time to diverge. “Honestly, I’m surprised you don’t know your fair share of asses, from my experience there’s a lot of bad people in rich schools.”

“Ah, that's because my school has only a few rich kids. There’s everybody from everywhere.” That’s also kinda uncanny, boarding schools are for the rich. “And yeah I do know my fair share of bad people, just none bad enough to run away from, sorry about that by the way,” she said sincerely.

“Don’t sweat it, those assholes don’t deserve any thought.” I hope she gets the hint.

“Okay then, let’s talk about something else,” she got it, nice. “How ‘bout favorite movies?”

“I actually like Korean dramas more,” I replied easily. 

“Yay cool, me too,” she perked up, “Anything you watching now?”

“Oh there’s this one on YouTube that’s pretty cool, there’s a lot on Netflix that I want to watch but I don’t have it, so I can’t.”

“That’s no fun, here give me your phone, we can share my Netflix,” she said while putting out her hand expectantly. This is interesting, Yuqi doesn't have any pity in her voice, like she’s not doing this for charity. Her parents are the opposite, they feel bad for us and they are giving us stuff. I guess I didn’t realize I hated that feeling so much till now, because I really like this feeling. Watch out Wei, I might just steal your girl. 

“Um, okay sure,” I replied shyly. She did her thing on my phone while I finished all the unpacking, there really wasn’t much. This room still feels pretty empty, oh well more room to jump around. 

“I connected you to the WiFi and put my number in too, it’s under Yuqi with a laughing emoji,” she handed me back my phone.

“You know that really does suit you, my friend,” I said.

She beamed, “‘My friend’? Awesome, we’re friends now! Hey how ‘bout you sleep over at my place tonight, it’s not too, too, far from your place and I have a massive TV with Netflix on it in my room?” she suggested. 

I chuckled, “Yeah sure dude,” I didn't have the heart to say I call everyone ‘my friend’. Well, she’ll figure it out someday. 

“Cool,” she said in her low voice.

“Cool,” I said back in the next register. 

\------------------------------

The princess is fucking awesome. Like literally we spent the whole night talking about God knows what ignoring the drama playing on her 50’ TV, oh wait sorry we don’t believe in God (Hehe, I’ll stop now sorry, just couldn't help myself). Yuqi is actually funny, well at least some of the time when she’s not trying so hard on dad jokes. She has a freaking huge personality, also apparently she’s like really smart, not as genius as Wei, but class president smart, you know. Anyway, she’s only been living here almost 5 years and is already so good at Korean. Plus she knows English too. She says her school has a lot of international students for some reason, she doesn't know why, but at least she has a lot of people to practice with. “Mostly the Thai’s,” she had said. Also she’s top of her class too, gets amazing grades apparently. She made it seem as though she has like 500’s in every class, that's literally impossible, but I let it slide. The girl likes to bluff, it’s endearing but seems like it might get old soon. Oh, and her room is massive, and pink, very freaking pink. I thought the pink outfit was just the days’ aesthetic, but no, it’s Her aesthetic. Although I will give her the benefit of the doubt, because it looks like gray is also her color of equal importance. Also no, her wardrobe is not just pink, it seems like it was only that one pair, I know because I helped her unpack too. Just the clothes though, the maid did everything else. The maid reminded me of Ms. Wu, by the way Yuqi spoke to her like friends, it was a nice reminder. 

I woke up this morning next to a sleeping Yuqi and her giraffe plushie. That's kind of adorable… she’s still not my style though. Fine Wei, you can keep her I guess. I looked at the time, 10:30, damn it’s late. Time to shake the princess awake, I promised Mei I’d be back for lunch. I began the deed, “Hey, hey, hey. Sleepy head. Princess, wake the fuck up,” not working, oh I know. I snatched the giraffe from her embrace.

She starred up searching for her lost companion, “No, what the heckles, where did you go?” she said while half asleep. ‘Heckles’, seriously that the closest this girl can get to cursing?

“Nope, not giving him back till you wake up dude.” She groaned into her pillow as a response. 

She caved after about 5 seconds of silence. “Ugh fine, fine I’ll get up, stop pestering me.” 

“I literally did the opposite of pester.”

“Same thing.”

“No that’s literally- you know what it’s fine, whatever,” I sighed and gave Jack back.

She looked at her clock, “Oh soot, it’s almost 11:00,” she said. ‘Soot’ ay, looks like we’re getting somewhere. “You can shower here if you want, surprise your sister with strawberry scented hair, all the shampoo y'all have is the kind that makes you smell like dishwasher,” she offered. 

“Ew, strawberry, no way,” I would rather die than smell like a wretched strawberry. “I’ll just take one downstairs, also for your information the peach conditioner masks out the dishwasher smell.”

“Whatever you say, more shower time for me. I’ll meet you at your place at 12:00?” I had invited her over for lunch last night.

“Yup, don’t be late, Wei loves punctuality.”

“Won’t be, as long as the commute is good.”

“Yeah, Yeah, see ya later dude,” I said as I walked out of her room.

“Mhmm, in a giffy.” It sounded like she was going back to sleep. 

\------------------------------

I think Wei is mad at me. I just got out of the shower, and if looks could kill, the little devil is definitely running me to the grave. The silent treatment, I hate the freaking silent treatment. Especially when it comes from Wei, because it’s like you can see the smart ass remarks in her mind every time you try to talk to her. You know why she's mad, right? It’s because I spent the night with her freaking crush, which I’m certain she’ll get over once she realizes that Yuqi is smart too. Yeah Wei, I see you, you like the cute clueless type. I saw the way you looked at Cosmo from The Fairly OddParents when you were 7. Also Yuqi is like my age and definitely straight, so that is never going to work out honey. 

There’s a knock at the door and I don't even bother trying to get up because I know the little devil will get it for me. 

“Hi Yuqi, you came right on time!” Wei said happily. 

“Yeah of course kiddo, I wouldn't miss out on more time with my future BFF.” Wei smiled, and me and Yuqi made eye contact. ”Ah there’s she is, Miss Yeh Shuhua in the house,” Wei stopped smiling, “Ah, sorry Tingwei, I meant apartment,” Yuqi said as she walked in assuming that all she did was say one word wrong. Well, I mean she did, she just missed which word it was. That stupid fuck just cost me my life.

Silent treatment, to both of us now, not Mei though, she won her over with her with the kimbap she prepared with the ingredients the Songs delivered. 

“Did I do something wrong,” Yuqi whispered as she sat down on the couch with me after she got her plate. She motioned to my sister who was playing Flappy Bird, with the volume all the way up, laying on the recliner opposite of us.

“Technically no, I did something ‘wrong’, and the little shit is mad at me for it.”

“I see, sister stuff?”

“Sister stuff,” I confirmed.

Mei was undisturbed by the Flapping sounds as she ate in peace while watching the TV. Yuqi seems fine with it too, as it looks like she's in love with her kimbap. I, on the other hand, have had enough. How has she not died yet, it’s been like 2 minutes, seriously. I stood up and walked over so that I was hovering above her from behind her recliner. Stare at her from above, yeah that should work. Wrong, the bitch just unreclined herself, and she didn’t freaking die either, what the heck? Now that’s really it time to annoy her.

“Hey genius I’m trying to get your attention,” I said while walking to the front of her. Nothing. “I’ll tell Yuqi and Mei the real reason you’re mad at me,” nothing. Man she’s got guts, that or she knows I wouldn’t actually do that. “I’ll stop paying your phone bills and you won’t be able to pay that stupid game anymore.”

“Uncle already said he’d take care of that,” Mei pipped in.

“And Flappy Bird doesn't need any internet anyway,” oh thanks guys apparently everyone needs to say something. Everyone except the little brat.

I huffed in response to the idiots,” Fine then, I didn’t want this to get physical, “ I cracked my knuckles, “but you’ve left me no choice.”

Flappy died, she knew what was coming. I lunged at her with my ticking hands, “Wait no- “, too late for that, you little devil. The laughs that ensued were like candy to my ears. Once I got a hold of her phone I stood up with it high above my head. 

“What was I thinking offering a 10 year old a phone anyway. How about I just take it away, for say maybe three more years, huh? Wait for you to become a teenager? I teased her. 

“What absolutely not, I earned that phone when I skipped a grade.”

“Whoa she skipped a grade,” Yuqi said.

“Shut up Yuqi!” we said at the same time with the same bark in our throats. She put her hand up and made a ziping motion on her mouth and threw away the imaginary key. 

“Just give me my phone back and I’ll stop ignoring you.”

“No you have to apologize too.” 

“Apologize for what, having emotions.”

“What, no for giving me the silent treatment when I literally did nothing. Hey maybe you are going through puberty.”

“Stop talking about my next phase in adolescence.”

“Of course you would call it that smarty pants.”

“You’re just mad because you’re bad at school,” we narrowed our eyes at each other.

“Hey I’m average, I'm just a little lazy, kay?

“Exactly you’re lazy, and you’re dumb, and you’re destined for a life alone.” What is that supposed to mean, I waited for her to continue. “Shu, your entire life the only friend you've ever had was that one girl who never even bothered to call back that night we left,” damn she remembers that. “Maybe that means something so wrong with you that no one bothers to try to like you,” shut up, it’s called being unlucky. “You curse too much and you act like I should do what you say.” You should, you’re a freaking 10 year old. “Oh and I bet she doesn't like you,” why the heck is she taking this so seriously, you just met her yesterday Goddammit. 

I closed my first, hard in anger and pointed my finger at her with my eyes shut. “Now look here Missy, you're my younger sister and you know me well enough to know that I ain't a bad person. And sometimes you get a little sassy and I need to put you in your 10 year old place!” I soften my voice and opened my eyes as I said my next piece, “Okay fine you win, I’ll stop being so negative, and I won't call you a smarty pants anymore or anything, well maybe ‘genius’ because that just a fact… ” she was looking at me like she just saw a ghost, “... um, you okay? It’s not even a big deal, we’re sisters and we fight sometimes it’s all good, okay?” Nothing. She looked scared as heck while the other two in the room were just confused and looking at each other. “Here let me just give you your phone back, and we’ll talk this over some- God fucking hell!” I looked in my hand where her phone was supposed to be only to find it smashed in my hands, when did that happen? How did that happen? Wei and I are staring at my closed fist with her dead phone inside of it.

Wei spoke up nervously, “Um, I thought we didn’t believe in God.” I dropped the phone, and it’s pieces fell to the ground as I opened my hand to reveal my now bloody palm. “Oh God,” she gasped at the blood. At least she seems more concerned about my well being than the fact that I just used some supernatural abilities. 

Supernatural abilities? “What the hell just happened?” I said and looked to Mei for answers.

Instead Yuqi piped in, “Well that was unexpected,” she stated with confusion and looked at Mei for answers too, “I thought my folks and you said y'all were all just human.” 

‘Just human’, did she just say, ‘Human’, as in there is another freaking option for me to check. And that Mei somehow knows what the other option is. That secret-keeping idiot. 

Freaking what the heckles? 


	2. Summers End

Shuhua.

* * *

“Yuqi, knock her out.”

“What?”

“Just do it.”

“Um okay…”

Those were the last words I heard as I obviously got knocked out by sweet ol’ Yuqi. I was so confused that I just let the hit come. And goodness gracious does the princess hit like a truck. She could have toned it down a little, that shit hurt. It still hurts, I can feel the bump on my head as I wake up. I’m in my new room, tucked in even. And my hand, that previously encompassed shards of glass and metal, is carefully wrapped in a white bandage. I look out the window behind me, it looks like it’s after nightfall. Okay so that means I have probably been out a few hours. Or what if Yuqi hit me so hard it’s been a week or something crazy like that? Definitely feels like it, it’s like she has super strength or something. Wait a damn minute.

Freaking super strength? If I recall correctly I just crushed Wei’s phone with my bare hand, like literally. Well well Mei, what kind of secrets have you been keeping, huh? Don’t tell me I’m an Alien or something? Wait, maybe that’s it, Yuqi did say something about not being ’human’. Oh right, cutie Yuqi, how did that freaking petite, slightly taller, shit hammer me so hard. What if she is like me? Oh my God, Yuqi and I are Aliens. That’s got to be it, there is no other explanation that makes sense. Ugh, I am saying that like being an Alien makes sense. Does that mean sis and the genius are Aliens too? I mean last I cheeked we’re related, and I’m pretty sure Alien is hereditary. Goodness gracious, that means our parents, Yuqi’s parents, all freaking Aliens. Oh my God, what if only rich people are Aliens? That means that the world is already under Alien invasion and the regular people are oblivious. Hmm, maybe that means I should be glad? There is no way humans could win in a fight against rich, super strong, Aliens. Yeah, totally, this is a good thing. I’m definitely not scared of myself or anything.

I sighed, realizing all that thinking doesn't help my crippled head. A few minutes of darkness and silence later I hear my door knob squeak. Oh shit the Aliens are here to take me. I’ll pretend I’m asleep. Two pairs of soft footsteps can be heard till they stop at my side.

“She’s still asleep,” oh it’s Yuqi, the bitch who knocked me out. 

“Did you really have to hit her so hard?” Exactly Mei, exactly.

“I dunno, you didn't give me time to think,” she said defensively. “Why did I need to do that anyway?”

“Because she shouldn’t have been able to do that.”

“You mean this is the first time?”

“Yeah,” they both sounded confused.

“That doesn't make any sense, it’s supposed to start when you’re 13,” she paused to think. “And either way the eyes start changing when you’re a toddler. Maybe she was suppressed. Although I’ve never heard of anyone doing that before an Awakening.” What the heck does that mean? I scrunch my eyebrows.

“She’s awake,” dammit sis.

I open my eyes slowly, “Ha what brings you two around here?” I chuckle trying to get rid of the sour mood.

“Dude I thought I almost knocked you cold,” Yuqi said relieved as she helped me sit up straight.

“Yeah about that.. ” I smiled. “What the actual fracking fuck is happening!?” I whisper-shouted at the girls. They kept silent for a few seconds and Yuqi looked like she had enough. She looked at my sister asking for permission to speak. 

Mei hesitantly nodded, “I guess there's no point in not telling her now,” she said. Yuqi perked up again and sat down on my bed facing me. 

“Okay so this is a lot to explain,” she warned me and began. “We don’t need to talk about all the history stuff now, we have month for chit chat, but basically you, and I, and my parents, and your parents, and your sisters, and also the people at my boarding school, oh and Mr. Lee down the hall, ah and Mrs. -” 

Mei cut her off, “Get to the point.” she grunted and sat down on my other side. 

“Right sorry, I’m kinda excited, we have the same class. Right I haven’t told you what that means,” she continued. “Where was I? Oh, we are ‘Elementals’, and as the name suggests, we have the supernatural ability to control the elements. And there’s also certain gifts that each class of Elemental processes.”

“And you said we are the same class?” I asked. This shit is crazy.

“Yup, this is so exciting,” Yuqi smiled happily. “We are in the Earth class, and one of the abilities associated with the Earth class is super strength caused from the internal manipulation of our own muscle densities. Because we can manipulate Earth, that includes things that come from it. Like plants and animals, animal manipulation though can only be done by the highly gifted old folk who possess the ability. Anyway, we are part of the Earth too, so we can change our cell composition some, that is technically the only animal manipulation that even a novice can do. And, in fact, that is usually the first thing that we are even able to do, level 0. The science behind it all is really cool too, but it looks like you’re a little confused so I’ll just continue.”

“Yeah sorry, science isn’t my thing,” we chuckled. “But you said we are from Earth, that means we're not Aliens right?”

She laughed, “Yeah, not Aliens. We’re actually just humans. Like a long time ago, God gave a few concentrations of people around the world these powers. Each of the selected groups were the most morally good and respectful to life. He said they were 'gifts' because this Dimension had the most potential for a future with Elementals. So the gene just passed down generations like genes do.” She continued, “Anyways there are 5- “

“What!” I startled them. “I need to tell Wei.” 

“Huh?”

“There is a freaking God!” my eyes were wide and I shook Yuqi by the shoulders, “And he speaks!?” Mei shook her head, while Yuqi laughed and took my hands off her shoulders.

“Yes, God exists, and yeah he speaks,” I egged her with my eyes to continue. “Um I think he’s been living in Heaven with all the other Angles. Basically ‘God’ is just his name and Heaven is the first Universe and that Universe only has 1 Dimension. The rest have many and each Angle is in charge of a single Universe, yada yada I kind of forgot the rest. They started teaching this back in the 1950's after God came for a visit and told the Grand Elementals. But like, we still don’t know who or what is in charge of Universe 1, so that’s still a mystery.”

“Oh my freaking God, that’s insane dude,” I said freaking mind blown.

“Yeah I know right, my parents explained when I was like 8 and it was truly eye opening,” she agreed. “Anyway, do you want me to continue?” This literally can’t be real, I gotta be dreaming. Scratch that, I’m not that creative. Freak this is giving me a headache.

“Umm, yeah my head hurts though,” I pointed to my bruised head. 

“That’s a perfect place to start,” she clapped her hands. “Okay so remember when I mentioned Mr. Lee, he’s a Water Elemental, and Water Elementals can heal. Mom’s gonna ask him to patch you up in the morning, kay?”

“Oh, sure, healing, that sounds great.”

“Mhmm, it feels kinda tickley, anyway where was I before?” She stroked her chin as if she had a beard. “Right! I remember,” she snapped. Man, I forgot how hyper she is at night. “There are 6 classes of Elementals. Earth, like us two and my mother, is one of them. Earth Elementals can bend rocks, mud, and plants, that's what we learn in secondary and high school. But if you keep training most Earths can eventually bend hard metals and compress matter into rock- which is like creating Earth, and the specially gifted ones can bend animals- which just means stunt or rapid their growth. We are also strong and are like in tune with the Earth or whatever.” Whoa, I’m freaking awesome, you must be jealous, you normal bitch (Sorry, not sorry).

“Next is Water, like Mr. Lee. They can bend water and ice and can control water temperature. Advances Waters can heal and breath in water. Special ones can use the same healing powers to make themselves or others stay young forever, which is totally not fair but you know that life.” 

“Umm next is Fire, there are a lot of Fires. I assume you can see the trend now right? So, Fires can manipulate and create flames and electricity. Advanced Fires can make explosions and fly like Iron man. That looks really cool too. Oh and they also like barely sweat and have flame resistant skin. Waters have special skin too that makes them not wrinkle in water like us.” Oh that’s so so cool. 

“Then there is Air. They are interesting because the advanced Air is really just a regular Air but they blow harder. Basically it’s simple to manipulate the air and float, or fly, or blow really hard, but the more Advanced you are, the easier and better your abilities are. Technically that is the same for every Element, it’s just with the Airs it's way more evident. Oh and special Airs can separate certain types of airs, like oxygen or poisonous gas, things like that.” All these Elementals with the special gifts seem real dangerous if you ask me. 

“Now for my favorite Elemental, Spirit. Spirit Elementals are more rare, but not too rare actually, not really sure of the statistics. But the order of rareness is basically 1)Fire, 2)Water, 3)Air and Earth, then 4)Spirit. Anyway, Spirits can tap into other Dimensions in our Universe, but most of them only can visit a couple parallel Dimensions one of them being the Land of the Dead and the other some random one. Advanced Spirits can create and destroy moods, like making the room feel happy or somber. Special ones can manipulate thoughts and this Dimension by stopping time, and they can visit more Dimensions too or help others visit. Also they are all like super chill for some reason, and they are good at sensing auras or something like that. There's this one girl in my Level who is already super advanced for our age, I think she’ll be a special.” That’s kind of creepy not gonna lie. Oh, a girl she says? 

“Is she pretty,” I asked just because.

“Mhmm very,” Yuqi said with a sigh. Whoa, whoa, unexpected. “Oh right,” she said before I could ask more, “My father is also a Spirit, ain’t that neat?”

“Real neat.”

“Is that it? I said Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Spirit, okay cool. That just leaves people like your sisters,” Yuqi said, thinking out loud.

“'People like my sisters'?” I glanced at Mei who I guess was also learning too because she seems to be paying close attention. 

“Yeah, the Regulars,” Yuqi said matter-of-factly. “Those are the people who don’t have an Element but carry the Elemental gene. It's recessive. That’s why sometimes Elementals are born from two seemingly non-Elemental parents. In those cases the Spirit Grand Elemental is informed somehow and helps get the kid into a school.”

“Oh, so one of our parents is a Regular, Mei?” I asked her. 

“I guess so, dad's an Earth and I thought mom was a Non,” she shook her head. “I guess she's actually a Regular.” She seems kind of annoyed by this, weird. 

“That’s interesting, I guess you got some lucky genes there Shu?” Yuqi said to me.

“Yeah, I guess I do?” So much for not having anything extra (I apologize for my previous rant, my friends). Wei will be so jealous. Oh freak Wei. “Hey guys what happened to Wei?”

“She’s probably sleeping now,” Mei said. “Aunt and Uncle were out working all day, so I didn’t tell them about you till they got home a few hours ago. Yuqi had kept her company while I patched you up and finished fixing the apartment.”

“Did you tell her?” I asked Yuqi.

“Well I just said that you and I have superpowers and that I’ll explain the rest later, didn’t think she'd get it.” She continued, “She seemed fine with that, and then complained to me about her phone and then we played games in my living room all day.”

“Oh okay, just so you know she definitely would understand all that sciency stuff a lot better than any of us would so you should probably explain everything to her eventually,” I said, “Wei would really like that.”

“Aww that’s so cute you care about her interest Shuhua, I thought y'all hated each other,” Yuqi said as she tried to pat my head. 

“What no way.” I said firmly.

“So y'all don’t hate each other?"

“No, we definitely hate each other. I meant I don’t care about her freaking interest.” She didn’t believe me. “Who are you calling cute anyway, you're the literal cutie, princess.”

“What I am not a cutie,” she pouted. “I am as cool as they come,” she insisted and put on the coolest face she could muster. Yeah… sure… not cute at all, whatever you say. 

\------------------------------

It’s been about 3 weeks since our last talk so let me just fill you in. Mei was acting all weird like the secret-keeping idiot she is and kept asking the Songs if our parents could find out about me. Mrs. Song had a bunch of phone calls and said that there is literally no way they would know that I “Awoke” or whatever. Everyone has come to the conclusion that my powers were suppressed by an advanced Water, because apparently they can freaking do that. Also apparently the Grand Water dude does it all the time to people who misuse their powers or try to tell the world all of our secrets. Yuqi said that once the internet became a thing everything got more controlled because if someone tried to tell a Non before they could just manipulate one memory. Now it's harder to keep up because of social media and stuff. Apparently suppressing a child is kinda unheard of so I guess that makes me an anomaly. You know what also makes me an anomaly, my freaking inability to use my shity powers even once after that day. Ugh that’s so annoying. Mr. Song said it should start up again, and that an un-suppressing of powers usually takes a couple weeks. It’s been 3 whole weeks and he explained it’s probably because I never used them before, freaking annoying. 

Yuqi on the other hand has been showing me everything she knows. There's a practice room in their house for her and her mom full of rocks and dirt. So most days Wei and I, sometimes Mei too, go and watch her do her rock thing. Which, by the way, is the coolest shit I have ever seen. Literally boulders flying, rock shattering, plants growing, the whole lot of magic sorcery stuff. But the coolest thing is her glowing ass eyes, whenever she does something they shine a forest green, literally awesome. Also I gotta be honest, but if you remember correctly my head was fucked that night Yuqi taught me everything. And the conversion continued the next day with Wei that time, and I do not remember all of it. The weird healing shit Mr. Lee, who if you were wondering was this grumpy old Asian man, did to me made my head feel fuzzy for a few days. Sort of like if I had gotten drunk and forgot some stuff after the weekend (You’re asking if I have ever had alcohol? Pft, of course not, what are you thinking, no way. Me!? I would never do such an illegal thing. Yeah… never… hehe). 

Speaking of Wei, the genius catches on quick. She got mad when I teased her about the God thing, but otherwise seemed very intent on learning everything she could. And it kinda weirds me out how fine she is with everything, but that kid has always been weird anyway. She took notes whenever Yuqi spoke about ‘their world’ and even when we were doing practices. Or when Yuqi was practicing and I was trying and failing. Wei makes fun of me whenever I can’t do anything, and Yuqi freaking laughs along, come on I thought I finally found a friend. Wei can have her, oh wait forgot, little miss smarty pants figured out that the princess was also a smarty pants and got over her. Cosmo, I tell ya. I guess you're mine Yuqi, my dearest apologies.

It’s weird having a friend after so long. My last one was this girl named Tzuyu I met in Elementary school. She was the only one that wasn’t mean or ignored me. She said it was weird how all the people who were nice to her were mean to me. See Wei, I told you I am just unlucky. This also meant that she was not exclusively my friend, she knew other people, she hung out with other people, and I was left alone at home while Mei went out and Wei cried for her baby carrots. 2 years of friendship all gone the moment I stepped on that plane. I tried calling her for hours that day, she never answered, and then Mei threw away my phone. Unfortunate really. 

Yuqi is really down to earth, pun not intended you freaks. We have been hanging out literally everyday. Going out for tea, for food, exercising. Oh my goddess I hate exercising, but Yuqi likes to go to this dance studio and dance to kpop songs and honestly it’s kind of fun. Oh also It’s been really exciting not having to worry about money. I quit my job and went shopping for a bunch of new clothes with Yuqi and my sisters. Wei almost passed out when she saw the number on the cash register, and Mei just looked like she finally unstressed herself. I can tell she missed being able to walk into any store and buy whatever. My parents were shitty, but they were at least dumb enough to give us their debit card. Like really guys, the girl partied every other night but you never took away her money, kinda stupid if you ask me. Mei is starting to loosen up more too, I guess it was the stress that made her all prissy. She has been getting ready to retake her college entrance exams though, and damn can she get feisty when she’s studying. Wei thinks she is acting weird, and I just say “I told you so”, because I did tell her that sis’s nature isn’t to be some perfect ass saint. Also Wei is acting like a freaking accountant with her share of the allowance. She opened her own savings account and is limiting her spending limit per month. Which literally does nothing because in this past month the girl has brought nothing but essentials, food, and books. Oh and a new phone, plus she's paying her own bill this time. I don’t know if I should tell you guys the exact amount the Songs are giving us per month (Because I don’t want you to be jealous), but let's just say that we could rent a whole other apartment if I wanted to. I asked Yuqi what her allowance was and she said “The same as y'all's, except just for 1 person hehe”. That explains her massive collection of giraffe and corgi plushies, and her literal inability to look at the price on a receipt. The Songs are fucking loaded and I have no idea what they do. Yuqi said that they own a bunch of things and do a bunch of stocks and stuff, and all I can say is I hope Mei decides to take business in University. 

Anyway in 3 days, on Saturday, Yuqi is supposed to be leaving to go back to school, kind of sad. Just kidding suckers, I’m going with her haha!

  
  


\------------------------------

“So you need to pack clothes for hot weather, clothes for snowy weather, and clothes for spring,” Yuqi instructed as she rummaged through my closet. 

“You know, if you keep throwing my shirts at me, I swear to God I will punch you straight in the nose you prick,” Yuqi, with a creepy happy face, gently placed the next set of shirts on my bed next to me. 

“Ha, sorry, I’m just so excited!”

“Whatever, “ I brushed off a pair of shorts from my shoulder. “Why do we need to pack winter stuff anyway? Aren't we coming back for break?”

“I usually stay, cause well, it’s boring here alone,” she flaked out her arms. “Plus you’re probably gonna need all the extra training time you can get, you’re 3 years behind.”

“Just 3?”

“Remember we are supposed to Awake when we’re 13, were you even paying attention to anything I have said this mont,h Shuhua?”

“Wei paid attention.”

“So?”

“She’s my sister so that means our minds are connected,” I pointed to my temples, “It’s a sibling thing you wouldn’t get it.”

“Yeah sure.” She started folding my green shirts, “I’ve always wanted a big brother or sister.”

“Really? No offence to Mei but older siblings are kinda bossy.”

“You do realize you’re an older sister right?”

“I said what I said.”

“Whatever,” she pouted.

“You know you look cute when you pout."

“Hey! Stop saying that!” Yuqi pointed a finger at me, “I mean it.”

“Kay kay, whatever you say princess.”

“... Anyways are you going to help me pack your clothes, or are you going to just sit there and do nothing,” that was definitely meant to be a threat, but the girl literally has no threatening features. I can’t take her seriously, so I just chuckle and get up off my covers and start helping. 

“What’s the school like anyway, it’s called YEOK right?” I forgot what that stood for, oh well. 

“Yeah, the Youth Elementals of Korea,” ah, that was it. “It’s sorta like a mix of a sports academy, Korean school, and Western school. And there are a bunch of girls living there.

“Oh right ‘all-girls’,” that should be fun. “What do you mean by that mix?”

“Well because the school is based in Korea, they follow the Korean school calendar. But the guidelines that the Grand Council set indicated that academically we are to follow the same standard all around the world, which has been the American system for a long time because most Elementals reside there anyway.” Oh that’s why Yuqi and I will be in the same grade. “And then the sports part is because 2 to 3 days a week all we do is physical training. We get away with 3 most of the time because we have 2 extra months compared to the Americans to learn material.”

“Oh that sounds just peachy,” I said sarcastically, “half the week is going to be spent in the gym, how fun.”

She responded with a smirk, “I think you'll be really surprised once you start training.”

“I don’t like what that face says.” She laughed.

“Oh right I should also mention that we’re the top academy in Korea.”

“What?”

“Only the best girls get into this school, most of us took an entrance exam to start here the second semester of level 1, only the top 5% percent get in.”

“Then what the freak am I doing going there.”

“Well my father is friends with the headmaster and he wanted to take you up as a challenge for the school.”

“Now what is that supposed to mean?”

“You’re the first Elemental in recorded history to Awake so late, that means all that built of power has been waiting to surface itself for 3 years.”

“Okay and?”

“Well suppressed Elementals usually explode into dust after they die so that means all of the power builds up and- “

“Oh my freaking what!?”

\------------------------------

Tomorrow, in T-12 hours, we're leaving for the academy and I still haven't been able to activate my powers, or I think they are called gifts, either way it blows hard. Maybe I just need a boast or something? Oh I know, where's the little devil at?

“Hey where’s Tingwei, Haku?” The little dark grey fluff wiggled his head down the hallway at the living room.

“Thanks bud,” I pat his head. Who’s Haku you may be wondering? Well he is the puppy I purchased for our new household to replace my, what is to be deeply well missed, absence. Or maybe I just always wanted a dog and got him on impulse as me Wei and I were walking down the street near the dog shelter. She said that we don’t need a dog and I just laughed in her face and paid for him on the spot. What kind of 10 year old doesn't want a freaking cute little dog? Well jokes on you smarty-pants I bet you are the one that is going to have to take care of him. Now, you might say that's selfish or cruel, but really it’s all part of my grand scheme to make her love dogs. She could really freaking use the cuddles. Plus I may, or may not, want to get another dog when I come back. 

Wei is seated in the living room reading a book. I despise books. How is it possible to find any ounce of joy in reading? (Well, I guess you would know). Now, what to do, snatch her book or yell at her? Hmm, I'm-ma go with the former.

“Snatchy snatchy,” I took her book.

“Hey, what gives?” She’s trying to take it back, obviously to no avail as I have 161 centimetres to work with against her 152. Thanks age.

“Nothing, just felt like it,” I tease her and stick out my tongue. 

“Fuck you!” Wei yelled and started to hit me. This is weird, Wei never curses at me like that. I wanted her to make me annoyed, not make me confused. Ugh this is giving me another headache. 

“What? Stop it, your punches literally don't hurt,” I tried to grab her fist with my one free hand.

“Shut up! Just give me it back and finish packing for your magic boarding school or whatever!” She turned around and crouched to the ground placing her hands over her eyes. Oh my freaking God, is she crying? What the heck all I did was take her stupid book? 

“Umm… “ I didn’t know what to say. So, instead I place my hand on her shoulder. The heck she feels so… heartbroken? It’s like I feel it too. Why though? “Hey what’s wrong Wei?”

“Nothing... just leave me alone,” she flicked my hand off her shoulder and ran into her room. The lingering feeling of her sadness is left on my palm. I wonder what happened. Hmm she was reading 'Harry Potter'. Kinda fitting ain't it? Oh wait a sec. ‘Just give me it back and finish packing for your magic boarding school or whatever!’ Wei is sad I'm leaving? There’s no way. Literally not a chance. I hear her sobs. 

Oh fuck me. 

\------------------------------

“You should just tell her you'll be back soon,” Yuqi offered.

“We're literally leaving for 11 months because your weird ass doesn't leave for the winter,” Yuqi looked at me apologetically. “Sorry, not your fault I’m just very confused right now and whispering outside her door is not helping me solve anything.”

“Why don’t you just go in and talk to her?”

“That’s not really my thing, that's a Mei thing, ugh why does she have to be at the grocery store right now?”

“We can wait till she comes back.”

“No, that would be like a whole freaking hour wasted, action should be taken now!” I was determined, so I turned the knob of her door with force and waltzed right in.

“Oh my goodness!” Wei screamed and looked at me like I had just killed Haku.

“What!? What? What did I do this time?”

“You broke my door…”

“Hmm?” Oh. She’s right I did just break her door. It’s in my hand by hold of the doorknob. “Umm, I guess I got my powers reactivated,” I scratched the back of my head. “I’ll just put this right here,” I leaned the door against her wall, “sorry about that.” She didn’t say anything. 

“I’ll just be giving y'all some privacy,” Yuqi said from behind me, “If you need anything I’ll be in Haku’s room,” she sped off down the hall. 

Wei was clutching one of her white pillows and sitting against her wooden bead frame. I approached her and sat down next to her. “So,” I started, “I guess I should start by saying I'm sorry and that I will really miss you when I’m at school.” She kept quiet and looked at the ground. Sometimes I forget the genius is just a 10 year old little girl, cause right now she really looks like one. “I’ll text you all the time, and we can even video call when I’m in the dorms.” She seemed to soften her strangle on the pillow. “And I’ll make sure to send you videos of my cool ass bending shit to make you jealous,” she just side eyed me. Good progress. “Oh and if I ever need help with my math homework you’ll be the first one I ask for help.” I hear some snickering. 

“I guess we'll be talking on a daily basis then?” 

“Hey I’m not that bad at it,” I chuckled and she raised one eyebrow at me. “Okay maybe I am, so what?” She chuckled back. 

“Hey, what do you say we stop sulking and hug it out. Then we get to spend the next 11 hours together in peace,” I asked her. 

“Hug?”

“Yeah that thing that close people do to show they love each other.”

“You love me?” Obviously doofus. 

“I want to hug you.” She smiled and tackled me in an embrace and I closed my eyes and gave her warmth. 

About 6 seconds in and I hear a shutter click. My eye’s shoot open to find Yqui hovering above us with her phone camera faced our direction. How the heck do we always get interrupted. “Oh shoot, I thought it was on silent, hehe.” 

“Song Yuqi,” Wei and I said together. 

“Oh man,” she ran away and Wei started to chase her out of the apartment. 

We spent the rest of the night huddled on the couch together watching dramas on Netflix. When Mei came back, she asked what happened after looking at Wei’s door and I just said “It finally happened again”. I think she understood. Later, she looked a bit weirded-out when she handed us dinner and Wei and I were sitting close and sharing a blanket. But I also think she understood. All three of us fell asleep on the couch last night. 

\------------------------------

“So are you gonna tell me why you made me haul all of my freaking luggage up to your penthouse this morning just for us to stare at the bathroom door?” I asked Yuqi.

She smirked and wiggled her eyebrows, “you'll see…”

“Uh huh, sure.” I sat on one of my suitcases while she continued to stare at her watch. A few minutes passed and I was starting to fall asleep, that was until Yuqi’s loud ass voice woke me up.

“It’s exactly 12:00, now!” she opened the bathroom door to revel, you guessed it, a freaking toilet.

“The heck Qi, stop messing around, shouldn’t we be like on our way to school by now?”

“This is the way, young grasshopper,” she gestured to the bathroom. 

“Do you need to take a shit before we go, I can wait."

“What no!” She lost her Zen mode, “Just walk inside the bathroom.”

“What?”

“Ugh fine, I’ll go first,” She grabbed her stuff and stood in front of the room, she turned around to face me. “Okie dokie, see you on the flip-side,” she waved and walked backwards. 

“The fuck?” She disappeared into thin air. “Umm, Yuqi you there?” Should I follow her or something? Thinking, thinking. What am I kidding, of course I should follow her smart ass. I take my black luggage and duffel bag, “Okay here goes nothing.” I walked into the bathroom with my eyes closed. I hear… birds?

“Took you long enough,” I opened my eyes to a smiling Yuqi. We’re in a grass field.

“What the heck just happened?”

“We entered a parallel dimension, provided to us by Mr. Jung Jinsoo, the Spirit head at the Korean Educational department of Elementals.” She sighed, “You would have known what we we’re doing if you had paid attention to any of my lessons.”

“I’m more of the ’learn as I go kinda’ gal.”

“What a perfect place to start learning!” She flailed her arms up, “We’re in the closest parallel dimension there is to Earth 1, we Elementals basically invaded this world because there are no humans, evolution never really took its toll here," she laughed, “the cockroaches are killer though.” Shit I hate bugs. 

“Okay so where’s the school?”

“Turn around dummy,” she chuckled and shoved me to face the other side.

“Ow that hurt- Oh my God.” The school is a freaking castle, as long as 2 football fields and it looks like it's 9 stories tall with a bunch of those pyramid roofs that castles have. It’s mostly a dark brown brick with lighter tans outlining the building. On either side of it there are cube buildings that look like transparent boxes with a large ecosystem in them. 

“What are those?”

“The gyms, I told you it wasn't your average training space. Usually we learn in practice rooms though, those are inside.”

“This is so fuc- Oh my God.” A small girl popped up beside me out of thin air. 

“Oh sorry,” she walked off with her stuff towards the school. A bunch more girls probably 13 to 18 years old started popping up around the field and doing the same thing.

“What the..”

“Yeah we were tiny bit early it seems, people should be coming in now,” Yuqi said, “Come on let's go you have like a whole year to admire the architecture.” She grabbed my wrist and started dragging me down to the entrance. "The dorms are on the other side." 

“Hey let go, I’m going to drop my bag,” she let go and it obviously freaking fell, right next to some girls feet, shes wearing white tennis shoes. 

“Dammit Yuqi,” I stared daggers at her, I started to face the girl. I scrunch my eyes and think about Korean, it’s been a while. “Sorry about that- oh freaking hell,” she’s so pretty. Like drop dead gorgeous, goddess level shit. She’s wearing a fitted white shirt and straight blue jeans. Oh my God, she looks amazing. She’s waiting for you to say something. Say something. Say something! Oh now she’s looking at you like you’re a weirdo. Yeh Shuhua say something! Nope, nope, not possible. She's walking away. Gone. Aww man, that sucks.

“Pft,” Yuqi lets out her big laugh. “You.. you.. “She says in between laughs, “Haha, Shuhua… what the… heckles… you literally froze… and… Pft… and… you looked like a little puppy… hahaha.”

“Shut up,” I said annoyed. She nodded and I let her die down a bit then asked, “Who was that?”

“Oh her? She’s a senior class representative, the Water one I think” She looked at me smug, “Why, you wanna befriend her too, hmm? There's not a chance, she’s an Ice Queen, like literally though she’s the best at ice.” I don’t care. 

“Her name?”

“Oh umm… let me just dig through my memory banks.”

“Hurry up.” I wanna know. 

“Oh right!” Yuqi snapped, “Seo Soojin, that’s it.”

What a beautiful name. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Some people can be really oblivious, some people act oblivious.


	3. New Girl

Yuqi.

* * *

“Oh my God, it’s so freaking green,” Shuhua said while eyeing the room.

“Well yeah. It’s kinda our class color,” I said.

“Ha, then I’ll fit right in,” she sure will, considering more than half the shirts I packed for her were in fact green. “Hey I thought you got your own room, Miss Class rep, why are their two beds?”

“Surprise! I requested to share a room with… drum roll please…”

“Just say it’s me already,” she didn’t even drum roll. 

“You’re no fun.”

“You’re too much fun.”

“There is no such thing as too much fun,” I said dumbfounded, “There’s just fun, and more fun, and even more fun, and even more even more fun, and so on.”

“You know what I think I should move out,” she nodded her head. “You know that Seo Soojin girl should have some extra room.” 

“Ugh not again, you haven’t shut up about her since you bumped into her,” seriously this is getting annoying. “And that was like 15 minutes ago.”

“I doubt I’ll ever shut up about her,” she sighed. 

“What does that mean? She’s just some random girl.”

She looked at me like I was crazy, “Seriously? Just some random girl,my ass,” Shuhua jumped on my bed, “Seo Soojin is a creature of absolute perfection, and I must make her mine,” she declared pointing to the sky. What does ‘make her mine’ mean? I looked at her confused.

She sighed and crossed her arms, “You really don’t get it, do you?” No, no I don’t. 

“Umm, what am I not getting exactly?” 

“Song Yuqi, I must have a talk with you,” she jumped off the bed and grabbed my shoulders. 

“This is weird,” I tried to escape from her grasp. 

“Song Yuqi!”

“Okay, okay, what it is?”

“So you know the birds and the bees?” Yeah, no, I’m not doing this.

“Oh my god! Shut up!” I put my hands to my ears. “Lalala, I can’t hear you, lalala.”

She began laughing almost hysterically as she fell to the ground in a fetal position. “You really are, “ she tried to catch her breath, “you’re so innocent… okay… sorry.. I just couldn’t resist.” She stood up while clutching her stomach. “Okay what I was saying,” she breathed out and took my shoulders again. “I am a bird-”

“If this is a way of telling me you’re pregnant, you can skip this part.”

“Ew no, I’m not. Just let me finish, idiot.” 

“Fine.”

“Anyway, so I’m a bird and, instead of a bee, I wanna find another bird, no bees at all.” She stared at me, waiting. 

I scrunch my eyebrows. What does that mean? A bird and a bird, a girl and… a girl, oh. Ohhhh. “You’re gay,” It was almost a question. 

“Took you long enough,” she chuckled. “You know I kinda thought I was obvious too.” Not obvious enough I guess. Wait. 

“Does this mean you like Soojin?”

“Like? Nah dude I’m in love.”

“You haven’t even had a conversation with her,” she narrowed her eyes at me and finally let go of my shoulders. 

"Fine in lust,” she clutched her hands together and twirled around. “By the time I do fall in love, she’ll feel the same way.”

“Not to rain on your parade, but I don’t think she’s gay.”

“Maybe not, but I hope she likes girls.”

“Isn’t it less likely that she does, like statistically.”

“You would be surprised how many girls I’ve met that like girls.” She thought for a second. “I’ve made out with at least one girl at every party I’ve been to...”

“‘At least’!?” I didn’t realize Shuhua could have any game.

“... and then there's my sisters.”

“Both of them!?”

“... Oh and I thought you liked that Spirit girl you mentioned a while ago…”

“Spirit girl?” Oh my goodness she means- “Jeon Soyeon!? I do not li-”

“... Guess I could be wrong though…”

“You are definitely wr- “

“... anyway did you know that Wei had a crush on you?” 

“Huh?”

“Tingwei, little demon,” she held her hand out to her shoulders,” about yea high, stupid smart.”

“Yeah, I know who Wei is,” I said defensively. “I just didn’t know she had a crush on me.”

“She got over it quick, you’re not that great.”

“Hey!”

“Kidding kidding. Funny thing actually, that crush, is kinda the reason I discovered my Elemental abilities.”

“What how- “ I was interrupted by the door being slammed open. Revealing an fuming Air Elemental I knew all too well.

“You!” She pointed at me angrily. It’s Korean time now. 

“Umm, hi there to you too Minnie,” I waved. 

“How could you?” she said like I’ve just killed her cat. 

“What?”

“You didn’t call me once all break,“ she pouted like a child. “The most I got was a ‘ttyl’ text from when you said you got home,” I chuckled nervously. “That was a month ago Song Yuqi!” She’s back to being angry. 

“You see, the thing is, I, umm, I…” 

“No excuse could compensate for the amount of pain for which you have caused me.” She sighed, “You’ll pay for this.”

“Oh no.” I tried to run away, but it was too late, I was already being levitated into the air. Put me down! I get motion sickness whenever you do this!”

“You deserve it for ghosting me!”

“You do realize you didn’t try to call me either!”

“Only because you were the one you said ‘ttyl’, that means you were supposed to text me first!”

“No it does not!” what kind of logic is that? She spun me around. “Stop!”

“Whatever, you should have texted anyway!”

“I was preoccupied!”

“Oh really? With what exactly?” I was being hurled towards my bed. 

“With her!” I pointed at Shuhua, who was standing against the opposite wall. Minnie dropped me surprised that there was another body in the room. 

“That was so freaking awesome!” Shuhua said while looking at Minnie.

Minnie turned away embarrassed by her gaze, so she looked onto mine instead, “Who is she?”

“That our newest student, Yeh Shuhua, a junior Earth,” I said a little out of breath. “I have been hanging out with her all summer because she is my neighbor, and I had to teach her everything because she didn’t know Elementals existed till about a month ago.” 

“That doesn't make any sense.” Minnie said as she crossed her arms. 

“She only just Awoke, her powers were suppressed before.”

Minnie gasped, “You can do that?”

“Apparently.”

“Who would do such a thing?”

“My parents,” Shuhua chimed in and walked towards Minnie. Minnie looked dumbfounded.

“Why?”

“Absolutely no freaking clue,” She said and then extended her hand out. “Minnie, was it?”

“Yeah,” Minnie said and shook her hand. 

“So you’re one of those Air Elementals?” Shuhua said excitedly. 

“Yup, I’m a senior by the way, so I live just upstairs too.” 

“Oh a senior, does that mean you know Seo Soojin?” Not this again, I groaned.

Minnie looked at me quizzaciously, “Umm, yeah I guess. She’s a loner though, but I know she’s friends with Cho Miyeon.”

“Really? I thought she talked to nobody,” I said.

“Yeah, most people think that about Miss Ice Queen.” She sighed, “Unfortunately the two are close.”

“I thought you hated Miyeon, because of the whole ‘fire is just hot air’ thing.” The two were almost always at each other's throats since their fight in the cafeteria freshman year. 

“Pft, yeah obviously,” she said quickly, “It's just that Miyeon doesn’t deserve friends as cool as Soojin.”

“People think Seo Soojin is cool?” Shuhua asked. 

“Yeah, especially the other girls in her Water Class.”

“Looks like I have competition,” Shuhua wonders to herself. 

“What?” Minnie asked, a little shocked. 

“It’s nothing,” I waved my hand dismissively. “Anyway shouldn’t you be unpacking right now?” I got up from my bed and started to drag her out. 

“I already finished.” She was outside of our room now. 

“Good, then go bother Miyeon or something.” I close the door on her. 

“Hey!” I heard her grumble, “You better text me later!”

“Definitely!” She walked away. 

“Why did you kick her out?” Shuhua asked. 

“You need to learn to be more subtle, word travels fast around here.” I didn’t want her to be gossiped about. 

“Yuqi, Yuqi, Yuqi,” she chuckled. “I am anything but subtle.” 

I sighed for the nth time today. This is going to be a long year. 

\------------------------------

It was dinner time and I am so excited. Dinner means food, and I love food, apparently though not as much as the person walking next to me. When I told Shuhua that dinner would be served buffet style, she immediately closed her fist, pumped the air, jumped, and said ‘Woohoo’. I guess that’s what happens when you have 4 years of eating cup ramen, you get excited by a simple buffet. I kind of feel bad that I don’t understand, but then I remember that I should not feel pity, Shuhua would probably hate that. But anyways, back to dinner, the greens are all produced in the school's garden, while any meat is just ordered in. Most of the chefs are Earth Elementals (like yours truly), because we can grow plants quickly, a skill I learned just last year. It’s so cool, I can always have extra vegetables if I ever get stranded or something, too bad a certain someone I know doesn't like vegetables, she doesn't really care for the ability. I wonder how long it will take Shuhua to learn it, I mean so far she has only even used her powers twice. I bet her suppression is over by now. Oh we’re almost there. 

“The cafeteria is through there,” I pointed to the door in front of us at the end of the hallway. 

“Kay, kay,” Shuhua skipped to the doors and opened them. “Oh my freaking whoa, this place is huge.” 

“I think it’s just perspective, look the roof is mostly glass.”

“Dude, this pace is bigger than my old school, it’s more than this ‘perspective’ you speak of.” It really is nothing special. It’s the size of maybe a large university lunchroom. Probably looks like one too, just with more fancy wooden frames. “Ooh looks like we’re early, the line is short, come on,“ she started dragging me towards the line. “They really go all ham on this dinner thing, their's everything.”

“Ha, they go all ‘ham’, ey?” I shoved her with my elbow. She was not amused. 

“You really gotta sour the mood like that, Qi?”

“Pft, ‘sour’.” I giggled. 

“Oh my God.” She turned away from me and went to fill her plate. I did the same while she started for a table after paying with the card my dad gave her. 

I went to catch up with her, “Hey not there,” she was going to the wrong table. 

“What why?” She looked confused and a little irritated as I led her to another corner of the cafeteria. 

“Because the Fires sit there, I doubt you want to get humiliated even before the first day.”

“The Fires?” She was still confused. 

“You see we sit here in this corner, near the left of the door. The Airs sit on the exact opposite corner, near the cash register. Fires sit in the corner, near the right of the door. And the Water opposite of them. The Spirits usually sit in the middle.”

“Are Spirits the most popular or something?” Shuhua looked intrigued. 

“The most powerful. Fires are the most popular, they have numbers.”

“Oh I didn’t think this school would be that into cliques.” She thought for a second, “Which is stupid because you guys are literally all put into boxes the second you get here, right?” 

“Correct.”

“But I thought you were friends with Minnie?”

“Well I’m friends with everybody.”

“You’re popular?” She said it like it was something unbelievable. I’m offended. 

“Yes. I am popular, you should be lucky that you ended up at my doorstep,” I said.

“It was more of an elevator.” 

“Same thing.” 

\------------------------------

The cafeteria was full now. Shuhua was looking behind me for, you guessed it, Seo Soojin. “I don’t get what’s so great about her.”

“She just felt nice,” she said after thinking for a bit. 

“‘Felt nice’?”

“Yeah like warm, her energy was warm, like she felt like a good person.” She stared off into space, “I looked at her and she was not only freaking beautiful physically, but she felt insanely pure too. I’m good at this sort of thing. It’s intuition.” She declared proudly. 

“Oh really?” That’s a little far fetched, “From what I heard, she doesn't care about anything, much less anyone.”

“Well you’re wrong.”

“Doubt it.” I remembered something, “If you want to know about real intuition, you should talk to a Spirit, the more advanced they are, the more they can see through people. Although, they tend to keep their findings a secret.”

“Hmm, I’ll keep that in mind.” She began her search again. 

Someone sat down next to her, “Hey Yuqi.”

“Hey Tzuyu.”

Shuhua wiped her head around to face her. “Tzuyu?” she said like Tzuyu had no head. 

Tzuyu was absolutely shocked. “Oh my God,” she looked like she was about to tear up. “Shuhua?”

“Umm yeah, why are you cr- “

“I thought you were dead,” she engulfed her in a bone shattering hug (Maybe even literally). What is going on?

“What!? Dead!?” Shuhua while gasping for air. A few seconds passed and Tzuyu was still clinging onto Shuhua for dear life. “Umm, hey Tzu, I think… ugh… I think I’m gonna pass out.”

“Oh sorry,” she immediately let go, once Shuhua was free she gasped for air. “Sorry, I just missed you,” she sniffled, wiping away tears. 

“Hey, it’s fine,” Shuhua got a napkin and helped her. “I missed you too,” she said with a soft smile. 

At that, more tears came out of Tzuyu’s eyes, “I thought you were dead,” she repeated, this time in a whisper. Shuhua hugged her again, without the addition of super strength. I wasn’t sure if I should do anything.

“Why did you think that?” Shuhua asked after a few more seconds passed. 

“That day you… that day you left, I was taking the school entrance exam, and when I left the exam room I saw that I had a ton of missed calls from you.” They stopped hugging and Shuhua clasped their hands together, nodding for her to continue. “I tried calling you back, but It wouldn’t go through. So I asked my mom to call your mom and tell them I her to ask for you and… and when they were talking mom started to cry.” Tzuyu looked Shuhua straight in the eyes, “Shuhua, your mom said that you and your sisters had got in a car crash, she said Mei was driving and none of you guys survived.” 

“Oh,” Shuhua sighed. “That bitch,” she said under her breath.

“I went to your funeral too.”

“Really?”

“I’m glad it wasn’t real though,” she chuckled sadly, “What happened?” By this point she wasn’t crying anymore. 

“Umm well, we ran away.”

“You ran away.”

“Well I guess technically Mei stole us then Yuqi’s parents smuggled us into Korea, but yeah ‘run away’ works.”

“What?” She looked at me, “Yuqi’s parents? Wait, why did you run away?”

“Like I said, Mei stole us.” She rolled her eyes, “Okay ‘stole’ is a strong word, more like lead us to the airport, I actually don’t know exactly why we left, because Mei is an idiot and likes to keep secrets. But basically, umm, do you remember my parents well?”

“Yeah, they were quite shitty.” I gasped, Tzuyu never cursed. 

They looked at me, I interrupted their moment, “Hehe, sorry, carry on.”

Tzuyu studied me for a second, “Why did Yuqi’s parents smuggle you into Korea?”

“Oh, you know I never actually thought about that,” Shuhua looked at me too. “How do your parents know my sister?” What am I supposed to know?

I put my hand up defensively, “I know just as much as you do Shu.” 

“Weird.” Shuhua stated. 

The rest of the hour Shuhua was filling Tzuyu in on the just of what the last 4 years had been like, Tzuyu did the same. I stepped in whenever I was involved in a story, but I kinda just let them talk the whole time. It was a little weird seeing Tzuyu so animated, and even weirder seeing the two hold hands restricting Shuhua from eating the rest of her food. Might as well fill y'all in on the current conversation topic. 

“You know Seo Soojin?” Shuhua asked. Oh here we go again. 

“Yeah, the Ice Queen.”

“Why do people keep calling her that?”

“Because she is wickedly good at conjuring ice.”

Shuhua turned to me, “See Yuqi not everyone thinks she’s- “

“And because she’s a very cold person,” I snicker. 

“Ha, told you, she’s no joke,” I said. Shuhua pouted. 

“Why, you know her?”

“No,” she pouted again. And then she dreamily smiled, “but I will.”

“Looks like Shu has a little crush.” How can she tell?

“It’s definitely a big crush,” I butt in. (Ha, butt). 

“When we zapped here, I ran into her and she was so cool.” 

“She couldn’t even talk to her,” I said. 

“Shuhua can’t talk to anybody she likes.” 

“No, like she physically froze.”

“Pft, really?” They finally let go of each other's hands so that Tzuyu could slap Shuhua’s shoulder, “What did she say?”

“She didn’t, she just walked away majestically,” Shuhua sighed. Tzuyu started laughing. “Hey! She did, and it was great!” 

“Why, did you enjoy the view?” Shuhua blushed. 

“Tzuyu!” I said, “I thought you were innocent.” 

“You’re the only innocent one here Yuqi,” Shuhua stated. Then her and Tzuyu fist-bumped. Why? I have no idea.

“I am not inn-” I was interrupted by the sound of a microphone being connected to the amps. Ow, that was loud. 

“Hello, my name is Park Choongmin, the headmaster of this fine academy.” A man's voice echoed in the cafeteria. “I welcome you all this spring to the new school year. I hope that it will be fun and enjoyable as always. That is not to say that I expect you to take your studies lightly. In fact, it is the opposite I express, it is crucial that you take your responsibilities as the next generation of Elementals seriously. I do expect you maintain your physical grades just as well as you do your academic ones. We at YEOK have a reputation that precedes us, I do not expect a single one of you to tarnish that reputation. However, if you do feel like you are over exerting yourself you can go to the counselor's room and be aided by either water therapy or by our head counselor, Mrs. Jung Chulha, an advanced Spirit who will offer you guidance. If nothing works for you, I will see to it personally that you are dismissed and transferred to any of the other schools of your choice, you did pass the entrance exam after all.” I heard Shuhua gulp from behind me. Mr. Park clasped his hand together, “Now, I hope that we all provide a warm welcome to the Level 1, 8th grades, and I hope that you do not scare them off. Oh that reminds me, we also welcome a new transfer student to our school, she is a Junior,” soft murmurs were heard through the room. “I know it is unusual that we get any transfer students at such an age, but trust me it was all but unnecessary. I expect that her peers will be kind and patient, she has only just Awoken,” louder whispers ignited. I looked back to Shuhua who had turned a soft shade of pink in embarrassment. Tzuyu was looking at her too. “Silence!” We went quiet. “How about we all welcome her together,” he looked over to the Earth's corner, “Yeh Shuhua, would you please be courteous and stand up so that your peers know who you are.”

“Oh my freaking God,” Shuhua cursed to herself. She looked around and after a couple seconds stood up awkwardly and bowed to the room of spectators. They all looked at her in aw, I almost forgot how unusual it was to be Awoken so late. 

“Okay then, you can sit down now Miss Shuhua,” she shot down quickly, but all eyes were still on her as Mr. Park continued his welcome speech. I didn’t bother listening to the same spiel I listen to every year, instead opting for kicking Shuhua, just soft enough, in the shin. 

“Hey!” She whispered-shouted. “What was that for, you bitch?”

“To snap you out of it, you look way too awkward right now.”

“Who wouldn’t, I had like thousands of pairs of eyes on me just a second ago,” she sneered. 

“It's only like 1 thousand,” she glared at me, “and at least half of them are still looking.” Bad call, she kicked me back. “Ow, that actually hurt, Shu.” Tzuyu chuckled at my expense. 

“Hey, stop, it’s not like you're helping any.” 

“I am,” Tzuyu said, “I’m holding her hand,” she brought their conjoined hands up from under the table . I heard a few gasps from around us and she promptly put their hand back down, this time on top of the table. Oh my, now there's gonna be even more rumors about Shuhua floating around. 

“Whatever.”

\------------------------------

Mr. Park had just ended his announcements and excused us out of the cafeteria when a bunch of the Earth Elementals came to surround our table. 

“Hey Yuqi, how do you know Shuhua?”

“Shuhua where are you from?”

“Why did you just Awaken?”

“Wow she’s so pretty.”

“Let’s be friends, Shuhua.”

“Tzuyu, how are you and Shuhua so close already?”

The questions kept popping around us while more of the other Classes started to come as well. We didn’t say anything but people were starting to silence for answers. 

“Umm, I’ma just head out,” Shuhua said as she grabbed her plate and stood up. 

A series of “Wait”s and “Come on”s were heard. We were all up now trying to get out of the crowd.

“Hey, give the girl some space will ya?” A voice was heard from outside of the crowd. Soon a path was created, connecting the source of the voice and to us. Everyone stopped talking and stared at her, Cho Miyeon (If you remember that was Minnie’s arch nemesis), the most popular girl in school. 

She walked up to Shuhua, “Cho Miyeon, senior Fire, nice to meet ya,” she said in a cool tone that was magnified by her fitted leather jacket. 

“You’re a lot more fluffy than I imagined,” Shuhua said. Miyeon was anything but fluffy, she was the epitome of what a Fire was; Hot tempered, flashy, edgy, ‘too cool for school’ but insanely good at it, and hot, in a physical kind of way, if you know what I mean. 

“Excuse me?” Miyeon asked. 

“Like, you know, just fluffy,” Shuhua shrugged her shoulders, “I guess 'nice' is another word.” People began to filter out of the way, already realizing that they weren’t going to get any answers, they'll probably just make some up anyway. 

“Nice?” 

“Yeah nice, anyway, thanks for getting everyone to leave,” Shuhua said as she gestured around her. “I owe you one, buddy.” She pat Miyeon’s shoulder and walked off the garbage bins. 

“Umm okay…” Miyeon said, and walked away without giving so much as a glance to either me or Tzuyu. 

“That was interesting,” I said out loud. 

“Yeah, let’s go.” Tzuyu walked off toward Shuhua. 

I signed and followed suit, can’t wait for tomorrow. 

\------------------------------

I lied, definitely could have waited. It was the first day, and I forgot that the first day meant ‘evaluation of your Elemental abilities day.’ I groaned just thinking about what’s next to come. A full day of watching your Class-mates do whatever they can, then you do whatever you can and the teacher just writes stuff down on their clip board. If I remember correctly, we have Ms. Kim this year, she has more energy than me, and that’s really saying something. 

Shuhua and I were walking down the hallway towards one of the Earth training rooms, which are, by the way, just big rectangle rooms with seating mats on one side, and no wall on the other, you know so that we have access to earth. We were both wearing green shirts and sports leggings, it’s the standard uniform for training days. Thank goodness Shuhua has way too many green shirts. That means I get to borrow whatever I want, they're all over-sized too, just my style. 

“What am I going to do when everyone figures out that I can’t do shit?” Shuhua asked me. 

“Well, I think they might be disappointed, you’re like the new talk of the town,” I chuckled, “You’re even giving Miyeon a run for her money.” 

“I don’t think she’ll care,” she thought for a moment, “I actually think she might like it.” 

“Is this that ‘intuition thing’ again?”

“Sure is,” she snapped. 

“Sure,” she really likes to stick to her gut, huh? Eventually she’ll see how Miyeon really is, especially when it comes to Minnie. Then again Minnie doesn't do much to stop it, she even fires back with equal force (Ha, 'fires back', like Fire. Goodness, I’m so funny). We turned and walked to the hall closest to the outside, where the rooms were. “It’s the second to last Earth one.”

“Kay.” We entered the room filled with the rest of our Class, oh man, we were the last ones. I told Shuhua to hurry up when she was talking on the phone, she never listens to me. “Whoa this place is so awesome, l can literally just walk out and never return.” I shook my head.

Everyone looked at us, “Hey people,” I waved. I heard scattered “hi”s and “hey”s back as I scouted out for Tzuyu, Shuhua needs all the support she can get. Oh there she is, at the far left corner. I led Shuhua to her, it seems that she is currently hiding behind me, I never realized she could be so shy. It’s kinda cute. “Tzuyu,” I nodded at her. 

“Yuqi,” she smiled and looked behind me, “Shuhua sit here,” she gestured to her right.

“Okay,” Shuhua pulled me by the wrist to sit down on her right too. 

A lady in her mid-30’s came walking in next. She wore a pair of khaki slacks and a light green button-up blouse. She’s tan and has her short, dark brown, hair pulled up into a ponytail. But most striking of all is the wide-toothed smile that was planted right across her face, that’s definitely Ms. Kim. “Everyone welcome to your first training class of the year!” She stood in the middle of the room, “I will be your instructor, the name is Ms. Kim. I am certain that this year will be one to remember, as I will personally make sure that each and every one of you have so much fun!” She clapped extremely loudly, “Okay no more time for boring dillydally, let’s begin, there’s only 25 of y'all suckers I want to finish before lunch,” she smiled and chuckled, “thank goodness I’m not a Fire, Mr. Im has almost 40 students.” Suddenly she narrowed her eyes at all of us, “Now who wants to go first,” Ms. Kim took out her cupboard and pen that was stashed under her right arm. “Hmm lets see, “ she tapped her pen on the wood. “Ah, I know!” She pointed the pen in the air triumphantly. Slowly she descended her hand to a girl who was sitting on the opposite side of our corner, “You can go first, then we’ll just go down the line,” she chuckled again. “Name?”

“Kim Jiwoo, at your service!” she popped up from her setting position into one that resembles a soldier. This seemed to please Ms. Kim. 

“Ayyai Kim, what a wonderful surname you got there, show us what you got, lieutenant.” she pointed to the middle of the room. 

“Are we all gonna have to do that?” I hear a slightly repulsed whisper to my left.

“Nah, that’s just Jiwoo being Jiwoo,” I answered. 

“Ah, good.” 

“Also Ms. Kim is her mom so they are always messing around, it’s kinda funny how we never talk about it though,” Tzuyu added. 

“What? Then why did she ask for her name.”

“Because Ms. Kim wanted to make it seem like she picked someone at random to ease our nerves I guess.” 

“She was very dramatic,” Shuhua stated. 

“Yeah well, from what I’ve heard she is never not dramatic,” I warned her.

“Great, that’s like two more Yuqi’s to deal with,” Shuhua sighed and Tzuyu chuckled. 

“I am not dramatic!” I whisper-yelled at her. 

“Whatever you say, my friend.”

“Hey, I can be- “

“Shush, she’s starting,” she interrupted me. Jiwoo’s eyes started to glow the same color as mine do and she began by creating a small mountain of rock that sprung from the ground. Her stance was firm and her hand was pointed directly at its base. Then she clasped her hand shut and the pile of rock broke into a million pieces. Impressive, but I could probably do better. 

Everyone had their turn to show off, and about 3 hours had passed once it was Tzuyu’s turn. I guess we can finish before lunch. Shuhua looked nervous, it was her turn next, we probably should have trained even a little bit after the door incident, that's my fault for forgetting. 

“Hey wanna trade seats?” I asked Shuhua as Tzuyu was currently hurling a boulder through the air at Ms. Kim’s head. 

“Obviously, you idiot.” At least she was not nervous enough to forget to insult me. I swirled around her on the ground and we traded places. “What am I going to do when I get up there?” Like I know anything. 

“Well, you should- “

“Yuqi it’s your turn,” a tired Tzuyu said. That you Miss Yoda. 

“Hehe, gotta go, Shu.” 

“You little…” I didn’t care to listen to the rest of it as I made my way to the middle. 

“Name?” Ms. Kim asked.

“Song Yuqi.”

“Oh you're the Class rep, you must be pretty good, this should be fun.” Yeah I’m the best, I smiled. “Okay show me what you're good at.” I nodded.

I made my way over to the outside near the small grassy part, cool nobody has done this yet. I crouched down to the ground and concentrated on the ground. Soon white daisies appeared around me. Then I looked at the one directly in front of me and made it grow to my eye level. I stopped my concentration and my eyes reverted back to their normal brown and I stood up to face Ms. Kim. 

“Brava, I see you have almost mastered the gift of growth, very impressive for a level 4.” She faced my Class-mates, “By winter break all of you should be able to do something of this sort.” She turns back to me, “Okay now try to strike me.” 

\------------------------------

I finished my demonstration and Shuhua was now standing with Ms. Kim in the middle of the room, I wished her good luck but I am way too tired to give any help. Hopefully Tzuyu offered her some advice. “Did you tell her anything?”

“I told her to be confident,” Tzuyu said, almost like a question. 

“That’s it?”

“Yeah, what else was I supposed to say?”

“True that.”

“Name?” Everyone went silent as they were particularly excited for this one demonstration. 

“Yeh Shuhua.” Ms. Kim smiled and looked Shuhua in the eye.

“Ah ha, you’re the new kid who just Awoke. I was told that you are going to need a lot of extra tutoring, we’ll get acquainted quickly this year.” Shuhua seemed less nervous after she spoke directly to her. 

“Sure.”

“So what can you do?”

“I don’t know, the most I’ve done is break a couple things.”

“I see,” she put her clipboard down, “here let me help you.” Ms. Kim led her into the outside and they stood before a small pile of rocks someone had made, and they were also facing us. “Okay, if you concentrate on one of the small rocks,” her eyes shone and she pointed her hand towards the pile. “You should be able to make it float into your palm,” and she did just that. Ms. Kim now had a small rock in her grasp. “Okay, now you try.”

“Umm, I just look at it really hard?” 

“To put it simply,” she chuckled. 

Shuhua raised her hand toward the pile like Ms. Kim just did and she looked at one of the rocks intently. 

“Relax, and just concentrate,” Ms. Kim encouraged her. Then, it happened, the rock floated in the air. 

Gasps were heard around the room. “What the heck?” Tzuyu said. Shuhua’s eyes were glowing green, but not the regular dark emerald green that the rest of us had.

“They're almost white…” I said confused. 

Ms. Kim seemed too shocked to say anything as Shuhua, slowly but surely, made the rock snake into her hand. She learned very quickly. 

Her eyes stopped glowing, “Whoa that was so cool!” Shuhua look at Ms. Kim, “What else can I do?” She was excited. But Ms. Kim didn’t respond back with any of her usual enthusiasm. 

“Umm, why don’t we continue this after lunch, I need to speak with the headmaster,” she started to walk away and Shuhua seemed confused. As she neared the door she said, “You’re all dismissed for lunch,” and walked off. 

“What’s with her?” Shuhua asked as she made her way in front of me. I am way too confused to respond to that. Thankfully someone else interjected for me.

It was Jiwoo, she came to stand next to Shuhua, “I have never seen my mom so flabbergasted before, Shu,” she laughed. “Those are some really cool eyes you got there, they are a very pretty green, I’m kind of jealous.” 

“Huh?”

“You’re eyes,” she pulled out her phone, “I took a picture, if you don’t mind.” Then she put her phone in front of Shuhua.

“What the… “ Shuhua said, “that's weird.” 

“Yup, very weird, but also so so awesome,” Jiwoo said excitedly. Soon people started to agree with her.

“Yeah, that was awesome.”

“I wish my eyes were like that.”

“The new girl is so cool.”

“And pretty.” 

“Hey, send me the picture.”

“Me too.”

And now I guess Shuhua is popular? Ugh this is too much to handle on an empty stomach. “Hey Shu, let’s go to lunch,” I said. 

“Fuck yeah, I’m starving.”

“You're always starving.”

“Touche.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think Yuqi needs to think more.  
> Fun fact: This chapter was originally Soojin's but that would be too nice, so I said "Nah" about halfway through.  
> Next Chapter a ship may or may not sail... you have been warned.


	4. You're my Secret

Miyeon.

* * *

Ugh I am so tired. I was last to demonstrate before lunch and if I wasn’t hungry before I am definitely hungry now. I grabbed my plate and sat down at my usual spot on the edge of our corner. 

“Hey Miyeon, have you heard about the new girl?” Jennie asked as she plopped down in front of me. 

“What about her?”

“Here look,” she put her phone down on the table for me to look at the screen. 

“Whoa her eyes,” they were a light green, way lighter than they were supposed to be, “that can’t be real.” 

“You guys talking about the pretty new Junior,” Sana sat down next to me. 

“Yeah, you saw?” Jennie said.

“Yup, and per my sources, I can confirm that those eyes are the real deal.”

“Your sources?” I asked.

“She’s talking about the little Earth Junior friend she has,” Nayeon sat down next to Jennie. 

“She’s actually pretty tall, and aren’t you friends with her too?” Nayeon shrugged with a mischievous smile. 

“Hey look, there she is,” Jennie pointed behind me. And yeah, there she was, in line with a flood of Earth Juniors surrounding her and asking questions like before. Hmm I have an idea of how to get her free, I know I shouldn't but it's too tempting. 

She was walking towards the Earth corner now, “Hey, Yeh Shuhua, come sit with us!” I called her over. My friends and everyone else in the room looked at me funny, I shrugged. 

I saw Shuhua and her friend Yuqi pushing each other in opposite directions before Yuqi finally gave up and they started walking towards us, with a taller girl trailing behind them. That seemed to have deterred the rest of the Earths from following suit as they were heading into our territory. “Heya Miyeon, is it cool if my friends sit here too,” she gestured with a nod to her friends. 

“The more the merrier.” 

“Tzuyu, sit over here,” Sana patted to the seat next to her, she must be her Earth friend. 

“Okay,” Tzuyu said without much enthusiasm and sat down first while Nayeon greeted her as well. 

“You two can sit here,” I pointed to the sets next to me and Jennie. Shuhua nodded and sat down next to me, then Yuqi sat down with a sigI. Oh right, isn’t she friends with Minnie. 

“Thanks for saving me again,” Shuhua said.

“I just wanted to ask you questions directly instead of hearing it from others, gossip is never right.”

“Sure, whatever you say,” she began to eat her salad. “Mmm, this is so good.”

“So, Shuhua what’s with your eyes?” Jennie asked right away. She could have at least waited for her to take more than one bite. 

“Oh, you know about that?” 

“The whole school does,” she showed her the picture, “this was sent in every group chat I’m in.” 

“I told you that would happen,” Yuqi said. 

“I still don’t get why it’s such a big deal, I mean it’s still green.” Shuhua said. 

“Yeah, but didn’t you notice that everyone else has the same shade of green?” Yuqi questioned.

“Obviously, it’s just, I don’t know,” she thought for a moment, “what if it’s because I woke up late or whatever and- “

“It’s ‘Awoke’” Yuqi interrupted. 

“Shut up, anyway, what if because I have been suppressed since before I was supposed to ‘wake up’,” she shot Yuqi a glare, “this is like a side effect or whatever?”

“Maybe,” Yuqi agreed. 

“Wait, so that’s why you just Awoke,” Jennie started, “because you were suppressed since before you were 13?” Shuhua nodded. “I didn’t even know you could do that.”

“Yeah, just another thing to add to my list of being a weirdo.”

“Who would even do that?” Jennie asked.

“Her parents,” I said. 

Yuqi looked at me questioningly, “How did you know that?” Oh shoot, I wasn’t thinking. 

“Oh, umm, I- “

“Remember when we told Minnie, the door was wide open, the news probably just went around the grape vine just like now,” Shuhua said while eating. Few, she saved me. 

“Oh right.” 

“Hey Shuhua, you’re from Taiwan too, Tzuyu just said you two grew up together,” Sana piped in. 

“Yeah, I moved? Yeah moved, to Korea 4 years ago.”

“You grew up together, that's so cute,” Jennie said. “You must be close.” 

“Kinda, we haven’t really talked since I moved, but she’s just like I left her,” Shuhua chuckled. 

“Hmm that's interesting,” Sana said. 

“What were your names again? I don’t think I caught them,” Shuhua asked. 

“Oh right, how rude of me,” Jennie said, “I’m Jennie, that's Nayeon, and that’s Sana.” She pointed to each of them. 

“Cool, nice to meet you guys.” 

“Likewise,” Jennie said.

Then we all began to finish our food. After that we started talking about nothing in particular.

“You are all Seniors right?” Shuhua suddenly asked. We nodded in confirmation.  “Do any of you guys know Seo Soojin?” Yuqi groaned at the mention of my best friend. 

“I do, why?” I asked. 

“Well, I wanted to talk to her about something, but I can’t seem to find her anywhere,” she chuckled. 

“That’s because she never eats in the cafeteria,” Jennie said. 

“Yeah, she makes her own meals and eats alone,” Sana said, “it’s common Ice Queen etiquette really.” 

“She can cook?” Shuhua asked excitedly. What is she so excited for?

“Mhmm, she’s really good at it too,” I added. 

“You've tried her food?” 

“Of course, she’s my friend,” I said defensively, this suddenly felt like an irrigation with the way Shuhua is staring at me. “Umm, the only other person she cooks for is Jeon Soyeon, they are friends too, but I don’t really know her. Soyeon is also a loner.”

“Soojin is friends with Soyeon?” Yuqi asked.

“Yeah, they went to the same school before this one. They’re probably eating together right now.”

“Oh,” Yuqi sounded slightly disappointed. 

Suddenly someone was standing at our table, her light steps surprised me. “Goodness,” I said, shaken up by her sudden appearance. 

“Yuqi why are you sitting here?” Minnie asked. 

“Umm, we were invited?” Yuqi said nervously. 

“It seems that you’re not sure.” 

“Well Shuhua was invited, we sorta just tagged along.”

“Okay fine, but since she,” Minnie pointed at me,” gets to break the rules, why don’t y'all sit with me at dinner?” 

“Oh, umm, sure that sounds fun,” Yuqi said relieved that that's all Minnie said. 

“But can’t they just sit with us, we barely started to get to know them,” I said.

“Yeah and Tzuyu already agreed to sit with us later,” Sana added. 

“Well Yuqi is my friend, and since apparently now everyone can sit wherever they want, I think she should sit with me,” Minnie narrowed her eyes at me.

“Oh guys we could ju- “ I cut Yuqi off. 

“I don’t see why this is such a big deal to you.”

“Well maybe it’s the fact that by letting a bunch of Earths sit with you, you have just ruined the social order of our school.” Minnie crossed her arms. 

“Guys it’s no-”

“Well since I am at the top of the food chain I thought that I could have some leeway,” I stood up and crossed my arms to mirror hers. 

“Oh my God, y'all just- “

“Oh I get it, since you're so popular the rules don’t apply to you anymore.”

“No, it’s because I make the rules now.” 

“Seriously I thin-”

“Wow really, you think you're so great or something. It's people like you that are the reason we can't just sit wherever.”

“Okay now- “

“What is that supposed to mean?” I stepped in front of her.

“You know exactly what it's supposed to mean,” she stood closer. We began a staring contest. 

“Oh my God, y'all are so freaking annoying,” it was Shuhua’s voice this time.

“Excuse me?” I said. 

Instead of answering, she stood up and grabbed us both by our wrist and pulled us toward the door. Many people gasped, I guess that's what happens when the new girl forcefully drags the 2 most popular kids in school. Once we were out she closed the door and looked at us. 

“Just what do you think you're doing?” Minnie asked while rolling her wrist to recover from the dragging.

“I do not care to be in the middle of your stupid lovers quarrel, I was eating some very delicious food, you know.” How does she- 

“What!?” Minnie interrupted my thought. 

“Don’t bother trying to hide it I can feel the love oozing off of you both,” she gestured to us and groaned, “I don’t get why you pretend to hate each other, I mean If being a couple is such a big deal, you could have just pretended to be friends,” she stated like it was the obvious. No, that’s so dumb, people would notice. “Then again, who the freak cares?” She sighed. Everyone would care. 

Minnie was keeping quiet. I looked at her to say something but she was just busy pouting, why isn’t she mad that someone knows? “Look I don’t know what you think you know but- “

“Oh shut up, Miyeon, she knows, it’s not a big deal.”

“Why are you not denying it?” 

She narrowed her eyes at me, “Why are you denying it?” 

“I, umm- “

“Yeah okay, I’ma go, let me just…” She pushed us into the nearest room which happened to be a supply closet. 

“Hey what are you doing?” Minnie asked.

“Just some precautionary measures, wouldn't want the whole school to know, right Miyeon?” She closed the door before I could answer. What is with that girl?

\------------------------------

Silence. We have been silent for at least 10 minutes, I already heard everyone leave the cafeteria, and back to class. Minnie was sulking while sitting on a random cleaning bucket, and I was crouched on the floor against the door. This room is too small, I feel suffocated. She hasn’t started the conversation yet, which means this is my fault somehow. Might as well get this over with.

“Minnie what’s wrong?” 

She scoffed, “You’re what's wrong.” 

“What did I do?”

“You let Yuqi and Shuhua sit with you.” 

“I don’t see why that is a problem.”

She rolled her eyes, “you seriously don’t remember?”

“Remember what?”

“In freshman year, when we just got together, I asked if I could sit with you at lunch,” oh. “I said if you’re not comfortable that we could just pretend to be friends,” I know where this is going. “But you said ‘no’, you said that that was ‘against the rules’, that you befriended the popular girls so that meant you couldn’t sit with me.” 

“Minnie I’m- “

“No, sorry won't cut it!” she finally looked at me with her big brown eyes. “All of a sudden some new, mysterious, cute girl comes waltzing in, and without even so much as hesitation, you let her sit with you.” She scoffed again, “I have spent the last 3 years pretending to hate you. I have had to listen to people trash talk you and I have even had to agree with those people. I made my friends hate you too. All so that you could become Miss popular, a fake and stuck up bitch.” The anger in her eyes shifted to sadness, “I became your dirty little gay secret, and somehow that makes you mine too.” She slumped in her seat. 

“I’m sorry.”

“Is that all you can say?” she shook her head. "Seriously Miyeon at lest pretend to care." I do care. “3 years,” she sighed, “It was fun while it lasted.” What no. She stood up, “Care to get out of my way.”

“No!” I stood up. 

“What?”

“We’re not breaking up.” I have to make this work. 

“I don't think there’s anything you can do to make me change my mind.” 

“You do realize what you’re asking me to do though right?”

“What?”

“You’re asking me to come out for you. You’re asking me to risk everything for you.” she looked perplexed. 

“I know that’s not an option for you, that’s not what I want,” she said after a few moments.

“It’s not?”

“No, I just,” she sighed, “I just want to stop hating you.” 

“Okay.”

“Okay?” She seemed hopeful. 

“I've been tired of having to hate you too, you know? You're not alone in that thought.” I smiled at her, “so let's stop.”

She pouted, “But I thought you said-”

“No, not stop dating,” I chuckled, “stop hating each other.” She was confused. “Let's be friends on the outside, no more stupid rivalry,” she stopped pouting “So that I can love you everywhere.” Her dopey smile was finally back on her face. 

“I love you too,” she whispered and put her arms around my waist and engulfed me in a hug. I reciprocate quickly by closing my arms over her shoulders. It always feels so nice to hug Minnie. 

“Is that a yes?”

I felt her nod, “Mhmm, does that mean you are my girl,” she paused, ”friend?”

I laughed, “Of course.”

She took her head off my shoulder, but still held me close. We locked eyes and she put her bang cover forehead on my own forehead. I smiled as our noses touched and I put my hands on her neck. Then she closed the gap and kissed me softly, it reminded me much like the first time we had kissed. It had made me so happy. 

\------------------------------

I hurried back to class, I was already 30 minutes late after making up (and perhaps also making out) with Minnie. I’m currently speeding down the 3rd floor hallway, because my room is at the end of it, sometimes it hurts being a Senior. Speaking of hurts, I hope Mrs. Im won't get too mad at my tardiness. So far, from what I learned about her from this morning, she is nowhere near as nice as her husband. 

I opened the door, “Ah now isn’t it Miss Cho Miyeon, how kind of you to grace us with your presence,” Mrs. Im said sarcastically while everyone stopped to look at me.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t let it happen again Miss Cho,” she started, “I’ll let you off the hook this time since this is the first day and you did exceptionally well with your demonstration, but fair warning, if you are late again do not expect me to be so forgiving.” I nodded. “Okay, go throw with Jennie, she doesn't have a partner because you were late.”

“Yes, Mrs. Im.” I walked over to where Jennie was next to Sana and Nayeon. 

“You may begin again,” she said. Soon a sea of blood-orange eyes ignited and everyone started playing catch with fireballs.

Jennie made one and threw it at me, “So what happened with you and Minnie?” Jennie asked. 

“Yeah Shuhua just said she taught you guys a lesson,” Sana chuckled. 

“Umm, Shuhua told us to be friends,” they waited for me to continue. “So, now we are friends?” 

“What?” Nayeon said shocked, “You and that Air are friends now?”

“Yeah you can't just have a 30 minute talk with someone you hate and then suddenly stop hating them,” Jennie added. Oh you sure can. 

“She blow your brains out or something?” Sana said and the other two laughed. This is why I try not to talk about Minnie around my friends. They think we are enemies and so they say stuff like that to make me feel better. Minnie was right, this way is better. 

“No we actually had a meaningful conversation, she’s not so bad.”

“You’re serious?” Sana asked.

“Dead serious.” They shared looks between themselves. 

“Does that mean we can be friends with her too?” Jennie asked.

“Umm, I guess, why?”

“Oh thank goodness, Lisa has been getting on my nerves to talk to her ‘Coolest Sunbae’ for the past forever.” 

“Oh okay.”

“And from what I’ve heard, the girl has mad levitation skills, she can make us fly,” Nayeon said. 

“I don’t think we should be using our new friend like that,” Sana said while throwing her fireball really high up in the air.

“Are you sure about that?” Nayeon said, staring at her as the fireball fell right into her hands. 

“Yeah you’re right, I’ve always wanted to fly,” Sana said in her cutesy tone while making tiny bird flapping motions with her hands. 

“You know you guys could just train harder and just learn how to fly on your own, right?” Jennie said. 

“Now where's the fun in that?” Sana said. 

“Fun can always be found in discipline.”

“Oh right, I forgot Jennie was an over achiever who learned how to fly last semester,” Nayeon said. 

“I just hate walking so much,” she sighed.

“Yeah, hurts the knees, right?” Nayeon agreed.

“Exactly.” 

“Pft, some grandmas you guys are,” Sana interjected. 

“Hey!”

I let them keep talking amongst themselves as I proceeded to relish in the fact that it was so easy for them to accept Minnie as my friend. Is it really this easy? Or am I just lucky when it comes to the friend department? How will they react when they find out the whole truth? Will they react like how dad did? Or how mom did? Either way if the truth comes out I’m dead meat, I have a reputation to uphold, this won’t help. I am the heir to my family’s company and that means I have to be a perfect daughter, gay, at least according to society, is anything but perfect. 

“Yo, Fire to Miyeon, you there,” I snapped out of my thoughts to be met with Nayeon's big hand waving in front of my face.

“Yeah, sorry, what?”

“We were just saying that because both you and Minnie want to sit with Shuhua, and Sana wants to sit with Tzuyu, that we should all just go to Earth corner for dinner.” Nayeon suggested, “you know and break the stupid seating arrangement rules we have.”

“Oh, that actually sounds nice,” I said.

“Yeah, and I could invite Lisa along so that Minnie doesn't feel so awkward around her new frenemy,” Jennie said. 

“Okay, sure,” I confirmed. 

“Ooh yay, this is gonna be fun,” Sana cooed in, “I like causing trouble.” 

“You know what would stir the pot more?” Nayeon wiggled her eyebrows. 

“I’m listening,” Jennie said.

“If Miyeon invites the Ice Queen and her cool Spirit friend, not only will the Queen’s presence shook everyone, we’ll have a full party of Elementals to add to the fire.” Soojin would never agree to that. 

“Oh my God, that sounds so good!” Sana squealed.

“Yeah, it will be like we're making a big statement,” Jennie added.

“Correct, plus everybody knows that Mimin hate each other, seeing them all friendly will rile everybody up,” Nayeon chuckled. Is that a ship name?

“And Yuqi is pretty popular too, everyone knows her, Shuhua is the mysterious new girl, Soojin is the mysterious old girl, and Soyeon is, umm Soyeon is…” Jennie thought for a second, “yeah I don’t know anything about her, but she’s a Spirit and the Ice Queen's friend, so that’s good enough for me.”

“I think she’s a Junior,” Nayeon said.

“What does she look like again?” Sana asked.

“Shorter than Chaeyoung, I’m pretty sure.”

“Which Chaeyoung?” Jennie asked.

“Obviously not your Chaeyoung stupid,” Nayeon said.

“Yeah our Chaeyoung’s a cute shortie,” Sana giggled.

“Speaking of Chaeyoung, I heard Soyeon is more advanced than Mina,” Nayeon added. 

“But Mina’s the best Senior,” Sana gasped.

“I know.”

“I don’t see the connection between Mina and your Chaeyoung,” Jennie said.

“You don’t?” the other two said together.

I don’t really know where this conversation is going but what I do know is that I have a big problem on my hands. How the heck am I supposed to convince Soojin to eat with all of us, and then also convince her hard enough to convince Soyeon to go too? Ugh it’s going to be like talking to a wall, an Ice wall, that she will probably conjure when I try to drag her to the cafeteria. 

\------------------------------

School ended about an hour ago, which means I only have 1 hour to convince Soojin to come eat with us. Currently I am staking out in the Senior dorm kitchen, waiting to catch her before she makes anything. I still don’t have a plan, and why is this so nerve racking? Oh my, here she comes.

“Hey there Soojin,” I said from behind the counter. She looked at me weird before continuing her way next to me to the fridge. 

“Hi?” She said without any enthusiasm. 

“Wow, not even happy to see your best friend after such a long first day?”

“Your random presence confuses me, therefore outweighing my happiness,” she said nonchalantly. She took out some ingredients from the fridge, “What exactly are you dining here?”

“Well, I’m here to stop you from cooking,” I started to put her ingredients back. 

“Hey, what gives?”

I closed the fridge and face her, “You’re eating with me today,” I declared. 

She looked bored, “Like that’s even something we can do.” 

“We can, some Earths ate with me at lunch today.”

“Oh really?” She doesn't believe me. 

“Yes, really!” I whined, “I broke the status-quo.”

“Sure, sure,” Soojin sighed, “But what does this have to do with me?”

“Well Nayeon said that we would make a bigger statement if we had a full table, so we need a Water and a Spirit,” I took out my puppy dog eyes, “Can you also invite Soyeon along?”

“Yeah that’s not gonna happen,” she scoffed and went around me towards the fridge again. 

“Come on, I need the extra support,” time to pull out the big guns, “Minnie’s gonna be there.” This seemed to halt her in her tracks.

She turned around, “Minnie?” She asked unbelievably, “I thought you two agreed to hate each other, you know because- “

“Shush” I interrupted her. “We’re trying to be friends now…” I came closer to her, “publicly,” I whispered. 

“No one’s here,” she rolled her eyes. 

“Anyway, you see my predicament, I have Earth, Fire, Air, but no Water or Spirit. We need a full gang for the full effect.”

“Why me, can’t you find someone else.”

“Because you’re the Ice Queen.”

“That’s just some stupid nickname,” she started for the stove.

“People take it to heart, plus you are kinda cold, your gaze could probably freeze people.”

She thought for a second, “I think it has.”

“What?”

“Nothing, I’m still not going.”

“Oh come on, aren’t you curious about the new girl?” She stopped what she was doing to look at me.

“What about the new girl?” Good she's curious too.

“She’s the Earth that started this whole mess.” I thought, “Not that this is a bad mess or anything.” 

“What do you mean?”

“Didn't you see the picture, I thought I sent it to you?”

“Yeah I saw, that was interesting, but I don't see the correlation.”

“Everyone was on her back so I invited her to sit with us, then she sort saved me and Minnie from,” I stood closer again to whisper, “breaking up.”

“Really?” She was contemplating for a moment, “And she is going to sit with you today?”

“Yup,” I confirmed, “And her friends Yuqi and Tzuyu.”

“Yuqi huh?” She started back to the fridge, “I think I can convince Soyeon to sit with us too,” she sighed disappointingly. Wait, did she say ‘us’?

“Oh my God, is that a yes?”

“Unfortunately so,” she closed the fridge up again. I wonder what made her agree, because she sure doesn't seem like she likes the idea. 

“Yay!” I hugged her and she didn’t hug back. “This is going to be so much fun,” I let go, “I haven’t seen you in the cafeteria since freshman year.” She didn’t care to say anything, “Come on be excited, it’s our last year here, let's make it exciting.”

“I don’t know if ‘exciting’ is the word I would use,” she sighed. 

“Hey come on let’s hang out in your single dorm, Class rep, I have the most beautiful story to tell you.”

“This better not be another ‘Minnie was so cute’ story.”

I fake gasp, “How did you know?” She groaned and I took her wrist and led her down the hall. 

\------------------------------

Sana, Nayeon, and Tzuyu were already at one of the Earth tables when I arrived with Soojin. The cafeteria was already almost full, so the amount of gasping and not-so-quiet whispering that was heard on our journey to the dinner line was so painfully evident. Soojin was sticking to my side walking confidently, which is so funny because I know she’s just so shy inside. It’s quite impressive how she hides her true self so well, not that I can’t relate, but there's a difference between acting perfect and acting like your opposite. We were on our way to the table now and the shocked faces we were getting were starting to get funny, how weird it is to be popular sometimes. 

“Hey Soojin, sit next to me,” Sana said. To her right was Nayeon. 

“I’m good,” she said, and sat down next to Tzuyu who was in front of Nayeon. 

“Hahaha, that was cold,” Nayeon said while laughing at Sana and hitting her arm. 

“Ow, don’t embarrass me, she’s literally in front of me now,” Sana said. 

“You are all embarrassing,” I said and sat down next to Soojin, Sana glared at me. “Where’s Jennie?” 

“Right behind ya,” someone else said. I turn around to see three girls; Jennie, my girlfriend, and Lisa, who I assume was the one speaking. 

I was suddenly nervous with Minnie's presence, “Oh hi there guys,” I waved awkwardly. 

“Hey,” Minnie said, also nervous. 

“This is suffocating,” Jennie said and sat across from me, next to Sana. 

“True that,” Lisa said. Suddenly she smirked, “Minnie, sit here,” she shoved Minnie down with her free hand. Minnie was now sitting next to me. I repeat, Minnie, my supposed frenemy and real life girlfriend, an Air, is sitting next to me! Lisa sat down next to Jennie, if she were any closer I would light her bangs on fire. 

“Hey,” was all I could say.

“Hey,” was all she could say.

“Hey,” was all… wait who was that? I turned around again.

“Oh, Shuhua hi,” I smiled up at her. 

“I see you two kiddos are…” she studied us, “now friends I see, interesting.” Why is she so good at that?

“What’s with the pause?” Yuqi said from beside her.

“Nothing you need to worry about princess,” she bopped her nose and Yuqi looked disgusted. At least she's not telling anyone. Then she glanced to my left. “Oh my God,” she whispered into Yuqi’s ear, “she’s here!” 

“I realize that, and ow, go away,” she shoved her and placed her hand on her ear. 

“What do I do?” she kept whispering, but I’m pretty sure we could all hear her. 

“I dunno dude, say something,” Yuqi was annoyed. 

“Umm, ahem, Miss Seo Soojin,” Soojin turned around to face her with a board look. Shuhua froze and stared at her. Oh my, I think I know what’s going on. A couple seconds passed and Yuqi resorted to shoving her with her elbow. “You are very pretty,” Shuhua blurted out. 

This seemed to confuse Soojin, “Umm, thank you?” 

“You’re useless,” Yuqi dragged her to sit next to Minnie as she sat down next to Lisa. 

“What now I’m so far away,” I heard her pout. Soojin definitely heard it too, but just ignored it and continued eating. Everyone else seemed to be preoccupied with Nayeon's gossip to notice anything past Shuhua’s ‘Hey’. But Minnie and I shared a look, we both know what just happened. The new girl, Yeh Shuhua has a crush on Seo Soojin, and I have absolutely no idea why. 

\------------------------------

It's been 20 minutes of surprisingly enjoyable eating, well except for the funny looks everyone is giving us. Especially the Earths, somehow I feel like I have invaded territory. Jisoo the Senior Class rep, keeps giving me these looks, or maybe she’s giving Jennie the looks I can’t tell because she’s right in front of me. Anyway, Soojin only talks when someone asks her a question, and as always she loves those one-syllable answers. Shuhua keeps staring at her while Yuqi tries to stop her. And I have been avoiding talking to Minnie directly, instead I lock myself in a conversation with her, Jennie, and Lisa. Right now we’re talking about Thai fruit drinks, and that seems to have temporarily diverted Shuhua’s attention. Why does it feel like somethings missing... oh right. 

“Where’s Soyeon?” I turn to Soojin.

“Late,” she says. 

“Obviously, but when will she be here?”

Soojin glanced at her phone and waited a couple seconds, ”Now.”

I turn around and see a girl walk in and start towards the buffet line, which was empty already. As she walked in all the Spirit eyes were locked onto her, expectantly. She looked shorter than Shuhua, but built the same way. Her hair was cut in a black bob and she was wearing a big yellow sweater. She’s not what I expected her to be. Spirits are usually reserved and nice looking, she seems to call for attention and has a fierce face. Then she started walking towards us, completely ignoring the Spirits that were staring at her. Once she passed them they started to look at each other disappointingly, I guess they wanted her to sit with them.

“This seat taken?” she asked Yuqi as she gestured to the seat next to her. 

Yuqi seemed surprised by the sudden voice, then she looked up to Soyeon and blushed, “Oh umm, no, I mean yes!” Soyeon eyed her questioningly, “I mean, no, it's not, just you can-” She stammered and looked away, “please sit here,” she brought out the chair for her. Soyeon smiled and took the spot. Does everyone have a crush, my goodness. 

“Pft, and you said I was useless, you freaking dope,” Shuhua laughed. 

Soyeon just seemed to catch sight of the other Junior, “You're the mysterious new girl?”

“That’s what people keep calling me,” she chuckled. “You must be Soyeon,” she extended her hand out, “The name’s Shuhua.” 

Soyeon hesitated before finally taking her hand, “Nice to-” her eyes glowed yellow, “what the?” Her grasp on Shuhua’s hand hardened and I noticed that Shuhua’s eyes were glowing as well. Yup, that picture was definitely real. Scatter gasps and “I told you so”s were heard throughout the Earth corner. 

“What is going on?” Shuhua asked Yuqi.

“I think she’s reading you?” Yuqi said confused, “But I don’t think she meant to.”

“What are you?” Soyeon said and finally letting go of her hand, both of their eyes stopped glowing. People seemed to notice the Earth corner getting loud and following suit. 

“What do you mean?” Shuhua said while the two started eyeing each other. 

“You don’t feel like an Earth,” Soyeon said matter-of-factly. Our table got quiet and I looked at Minnie who was just looking at the girls like everyone else, even Soojin was listening. 

“Huh?” Shuhua thought, “then what do I feel like?”

“Umm, mostly Regular?” Shuhua tilted her head to the side, Soyeon continued, “But also like everything else.”

“Weird,” Shuhua said, like it wasn't too big of a deal, and began to take her last bites. 

“Weird,” Soyeon agreed, and then started eating, maybe she was a calm person. 

A few seconds passed and our table was still confused. “Excuse me are y'all not freaking out!?” Yuqi spoke up. 

“Oh, should we?” Shuhua asked innocently, and Soyeon nodded in agreement.

“Oh my God obviously!” 

“Oh,” they said together. And Shuhua giggled at that.

“That only ever happens with my little sister,” she smiled at Soyeon.

“I have a little sister too,” Soyeon peeked up. 

“Really? How old?”

“12.”

“Mine’s 10, but definitely acts like a tween,” they chuckled together.

“I know what you mean.” 

“Y'all seriously just gonna not acknowledge what just happened?” Yuqi interrupted. She seemed to be vocalizing what the rest of us couldn’t. 

“I mean why worry now, it’s dinner time,” Soyeon looked at Yuqi with a tilted head. Yuqi blushed and gulped, then looked at Shuhua. 

“Exactly dude, I like this one Yuqi, you pick well,” She nodded at her. 

“Oh my God, shut up.” Yuqi blushed once more. 

The table was still quiet when Soyeon’s eyes started glowing again.  Suddenly Nayeon started laughing and hit Sana like before. In response she grumbled and told her to stop, and that made Tzuyu laugh, and Sana smiled at the sound. Jennie and Lisa saw and started to tease Sana. And I started to feel really contempt all of the sudden. 

“What just happened?” I whispered to Soojin.

“Soyeon lifted the mood.”

“What, she’s a special!?” Minnie whispered to Soojin. And Soojin just shrugged.

Yuqi was being called what I sounds like Mandarin profanities by Shuhua, who I believe was just kicked by Yuqi, and Soyeon was laughing at this. Soojin started to play on her phone and I was just very confused. 

“Hey, wanna leave early?” Minnie said. 

“Please,” I sigh. 

We got up and started to trash the cans. With the new lack of space in between Soojin and Shuhua, the latter began starring again. Soyeon caught on and beckoned Soojin to sit in front of her and she strangely compiled without any complaints. Shuhua looked like a happy puppy, now that Soojin was sitting next to her. Yuqi kicked her again to snap her out of it, and the profanities ensued even louder this time. 

“This is weird,” Minnie said. 

“Totally,” we passed them and left the cafeteria. The sounds of muffled voices could be heard as the door closed. 

“Come on,” Minnie's soft hand grabbed mine and she led me away.

This year is gonna be so weird. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To the person that said I am teasing sooshu, I have two things:  
> 1) You're right  
> 2) I think you'll enjoy the next chapter 
> 
> Also I've realized my uploading style is 2 chapters in 2 days, then wait a week. So, if that information helps, there it is for the taking.  
> ps: I know Minnie is technically younger than Lisa, but Lisa is a maknae, so just go with it.


	5. An Oblivious Puppy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one has a lot more Yuqi then I expected... :)

Shuhua.

* * *

Welcome back bitches (just kidding I love you), you miss me? I’m your favorite right? Don’t lie, Yuqi and Miyeon probably bored the hell out of you. At least I acknowledge your existence. Anyway, where did we leave off, oh right; Dinner. Okay so after the happy couple left, Seo Soojin moved to sit next to me. You heard that right, she voluntarily sat next to yours truly (Soyeon might have helped a little). Speaking of Soyeon, I was able to convince Yuqi that she was in fact not straight yesterday before dinner, the conversation went like this:

|

“Yuqi, Minnie texted and said that her, her friend, Miyeon, her friends, and freaking Seo Soojin are coming to eat with us during dinner,” I said smiling in victory, as I jumped on her bed.

“There’s no way, and since when do you have Minnie's number?”

“I have my ways,” I said with a wink. “Also you better believe it, I trust my Soojin,” I poked her in the stomach. 

“Hey!” She swatted me off the bed, “okay sure, but try not to make a fool of yourself.” 

“You should be the one trying not to make a fool of yourself.” 

“Me? Why?” 

“Because Miss Jeon Soyeon is coming to,” I winked again, Yuqi sat up straight. 

She pulled me back on the bed, “What does that mean?” she pointed at the eye I winked with. She was genuinely curious and looking at me with her big bug eyes. 

“It means that I think you would enjoy Soyeon's presence is all,” I shrugged with a smirk.  She pointed at my mouth and tilted her head, “What does that mean?”

I sighed, “Have you ever even spoken to this Soyeon girl?”

She smiled, “Once, last year she was the only Spirit in our grade not to go home during Winter break, she didn’t know anyone outside her Class so I got her a present because she was alone.” Her smile widened, “It was an over-sized yellow hoodie-jacket I only wore once, yellow’s not my color, so I thought why not? When I gave it to her she looked at me with the cutest little smile and she put it on right away,” Yuqi looked at me like a happy little kid. “And she looked even cuter because she is so small and the hoodie was so big!” She giggled. “She said ‘Thanks Yuqi’ and walked away all giddy-like. I didn’t even get to say anything!” She whined. 

I started laughing, “And that’s it?”

She pouted, “that’s it. But I think about her a lot”

“Freaking idiot,” how does she still not get it?

“What is it now?”

“Have you ever considered that maybe, I’m not saying it'd true or anything. I am merely suggesting that maybe, just maybe you might like Soyeon?” 

She tilted her head, “Yeah, I do like her.” 

I rolled my eyes. “No I mean like, like her like her,” her head kept tilting, “Like the way I like Seo Soojin,” I winked again. 

Here eyes widen, “You mean- “

“I mean you have the hots for your special Spirit girl,” I accused her.

“But I’m not gay, I’ve even had a boyfriend before, I like guys.”

“There’s this thing called bisexuality, idiot.”

It looked like life her life flashed before her eyes, “Oh my God,” she breathed out. “I like Soyeon.” There were still hints of a question in there, but I’ll take it. 

“Took you long enough,” I chuckled, “It was pretty obvious too.” 

“Not to me!”

“Whatever.” 

|

Anyway, Soyeon wore a yellow hoodie during dinner, and I can't help but think it was gifted by a certain overly energetic Beijing puppy. Also I’d like to mention that I think I have lost my game, and that Yuqi never had game to begin with (But that’s less surprising). During dinner, Soojin sat with us for maybe 5 minutes then left with a ‘Bye’ the second she finished her food. Like not even a “Goodbye” either! And if you’re wondering, the only words I was able to produce were a series of “you’re really pretty”s and “I like you hair”s. She’s gonna think all I care about are her good ass looks. Which is definitely not true, I wanna know her too, but I’m afraid that information didn’t get relayed to her. Yuqi didn’t have much luck either, she wasn’t really able to say much to Soyeon, so she just talked to me instead. And Soyeon also only talked to me. I think I enjoy being the center of attention when it’s good attention. Those two are helpless, unfortunately I don’t think I can get out of helping Yuqi though. She’s sorta become my best friend or whatever, so I gotta be her wing-woman, yay for me (That’s sarcasm). 

Now all that was yesterday, today we have begun the academic portion of school, yay for me again (Still sarcasm). Second period physics, you would think that actual learning wouldn’t immediately start in the first lesson, but that’s just not how it works around here. The teacher, I forgot her name, is currently rambling on about all the metric conversions. And if it wasn’t obvious enough, I am not paying attention. Oh good, the bell just rang.

“What’s next after this?” I ask Yuqi who is, you guessed it, my seatmate. 

“Math class,” she said while putting her notebook inside her desk. 

“You know what I think I should just drop out.”

“It’s only the second first day,” Tzuyu interjected while turning around in her seat to face us. 

“Yeah well, I’m not some smarty-pants like you guys. The only thing I can do is History because I like the stories,” I whine.

“I prefer the term genius,” Yuqi said. 

I ignored her, “If everybody here has perfect grades, then my scores will bring the Class average down to like a 50.”

“That’s not how averages work,” Tzuyu said.

“Exactly!”

“So you just need a tutor.” Yuqi suggested.

“I already have one,” I pointed out. “And she’s an actual genius.”

“I am a real genius!”

“Who?” Tzuyu asked.

“My little sister,” I said proudly. 

“Isn’t she like 10?” Tzuyu said.

“Your point?” 

“I can help you with English,” Yuqi offered, “I’m a pro.”

“Fine, so now I have English, Science, and Math covered,” I sighed, “what else is there?”

“Korean. And you have an extra Earth class last period with Ms. Kim, but you're oddly good at Earth so you don't really need a tutor for that one.” Yuqi reminded me. 

“Ugh why, I don't wanna. Wait, what do you guys have last period?” 

“Juniors get to choose between a free period or art class, obviously I choose the free period,” Yuqi said.

“You?” I nodded at Tzuyu. 

“Art class, my Spirit friend Chaeyoung made me take it.”

“I can go with you to your last period sometimes, you know when I'm free. You'll have to top Earth student in our grade helping you out.”

I gasp. “When did you become so… nice,” I said fake disgustedly. 

“I have always been nice!”

“An actual nice person would never say that.”

“Shut up,” she huffed. 

“No I will not, because I am not nice like you princess.” 

“If you keep calling me that, I swear to God… “

“What? What exactly do you swear to?” I grinned. 

“I’m gonna- “

“Guys, people are staring,” Tzuyu interrupted. “Keep your arguing to a lower level, you two are loud.” 

“My voice is a gift and I intend to use it,” Yuqi said. 

“I agree.” 

“Anyway… “ Tzuyu sighed, “How about a Korean tutor, I mean we're all speaking in Mandarin right now so I’m not sure either me or Yuqi are the best choice.” 

“Wouldn’t that be better though, because you could translate and- “

“No!” Yuqi shouted. “I have a better idea,” she smirked and wiggled her eyebrows at me. Those eyebrows are still so confusing. 

“That’s your idea face, I don’t like that face,” I frowned. 

“Just you wait,” she chuckled maniac. Great, what does that mean?

\------------------------------

Lunch time, one of the three best times of the day in my humble opinion. I am currently in line for the cash register. All I need is my- oh no. 

“Yuqi,” I said panicking. 

“What?” she said from in front of me. 

“I don’t think I am going to be able to eat,” at that, she quickly turned around.

“What why? Are you feeling sick?” she went to feel my forehead. She was worried, ha cute. 

“I lost my card,” I whined. 

She stopped worrying, “Seriously, you could have just opened with that.”

“What am I gonna do? What if someone finds it and steals all the money?”

“Well then I’ll just call and have my dad cancel your card, no big deal,” she chuckled. 

“Oh, you can do that?”

“Cancel cards, are you… no, you know, never mind.”

“I guess I’ll just go then, I can’t eat if I have no money, what a harsh world,” I started to leave the line. 

“Whoa whoa there, hold your horses,” Yuqi pulled me back into the line. “I’ll just pay for you, it’s the same money anyway.” Ah true! “Plus it’s not like we'll buy much else, I can just ask for your allowance to be put on one of my cards, we can share a pin.”

I smiled wide, yay I get food, “Maybe you are nice.” 

“I told you so.” 

“Rude, you could have just agreed.” 

“What, but I did tell you so.” 

“But you didn’t have to mention it,” I said obviously. We were at the front of the line and she paid for her food.

“Well excuse me for having some pride.” She then paid for my food. 

“Pride the internal destroyer of man.” 

“Good thing I’m not a man.” 

“You little- “

“You guys are like an old married couple sometimes,” Tzuyu said after she paid. Goodness, I forgot she was there, she’s very quiet sometimes. Wait, what did she say? 

“Eww,” Yuqi and I said with disgusted faces. We each took a couple steps away from each other. 

“We are not!” I said.

“Sure,” she walked away to our table.

I eyed Yuqi and she did the same. After a couple seconds she stuck her tongue out at me and quickly followed Tzuyu.

“Hey!” I followed her. 

The Fires and Airs were already at the table, well then I guess this will be our thing now. Everyone was seated like before except Jennie had replaced Soojin’s spot and Lisa seemed to be absent. Tzuyu sat where she was before and Yuqi sat in front of Miyeon and I sat next to her in front of Minnie. Where’s Soojin?

“Where are the others?” thank you Yuqi for vocalizing my concerns. 

“Lisa said she always wanted to sit at the water tables with someone, and that now that we can sit wherever she was gonna sit there,” Minnie said. Okay, but what about Soojin? 

“Oh yeah,” Yuqi looked around, “I did notice the slight intermingling of the Classes when I walked in.”

“Mhmm, I think it’s great,” Minnie smiled. This is taking too long.

“What about Soojin… oh and Soyeon?” I asked quickly.

Miyeon smiled, I wonder why. Wait why am I wondering why? Where’s my intuition, eh, probably lack of sleep. “Soojin said it was a one time deal, and Soyeon probably just went with her.” Oh, I frowned, a one time deal? 

“That kinda sucks” Yuqi said, “I wanted to be their friend.” She suddenly smiled, “Hey can you give me their numbers?”

“I only have Soojin's,” Miyeon said.

“That’s fine I wanted to ask her something anyway,” Yuqi handed Miyeon her phone, “give me yours too because you're Minnie’s friend now.” She glanced at Minnie who was sitting suspiciously close to Miyeon, Yuqi tilted her head, “Y'all got close fast.”

They both blushed and Miyeon buried her head in Yuqi’s phone, while Minnie scooted a little bit away and said, “Oh, umu, we- “

“What do you need to ask Soojin?” I interrupted.

Yuqi looked at me and smirked, “Nothing important,” she said all mysterious. Umm yeah it is important.

“But- “

“Shush child, you will know eventually,” she put her finger on my lips. I swatted her hand away. 

“Come on, just tell- “

“Why are you so curious, Shuhua?” Minnie asked with a similar smirk to Yuqi’s.

“Isn't it obvious, this is call a crush, infatuation, all that 'I really like her' shit,” I sighed. 

“Oh, I thought you’d try to hide it,” Minnie dropped her smirk.

“Nah, she’s very proud.” Yuqi chuckled, “Ha ‘proud’.” 

“I can’t tell if she likes me,” I thought for a second “which is weird because I can usually tell if someone likes me.” 

“You don’t even know if she’s, you know, someone with homosexual tendencies,” Yuqi said.

“What a hell of a way to put it, Qi,” I said.

“Well wouldn’t you know Miyeon, you're her best friend,” Minnie said while turning to her.

Miyeon, who was silently listening to the conversation, simply shrugged and said, “I dunno, when it comes to relationships we only ever talk about mine.” 

“You have relationships!?” Yuqi said and Miyeon winced. The other half of our table got frightened (Well not Tzuyu, obviously) and turned to look at us. 

“Oh my God your voice is so loud,” Jennie said while tugging at her right ear. The other three quickly went back into conversation, it sounds like their debating if Nayeon is the prettiest or not, and I think she’s winning.

“That’s the second time today I was told that,” Yuqi smiled, “I’m proud… Ha ‘proud’.” 

“Anyway, since it is so obvious you are just so curious, Miyeon is currently in a relationship with whoever she’s always texting, I don’t even know his name,” Jennie sighed and waved herself away back into the pretty debate.

“Oohlala, you’re just like Minnie, she has a secret texting boyfriend too,” Yuqi said while pointing between the two who were now blushing and shifting uncomfortably in their seats. Then something clicked, “Wait a second, I think I just realized how y'all got so close so fast,” Miyeon widened her eyes and was about to say something, probably on the lines of ‘shut up’. But Yuqi beat her to it, “Y'all bonded over your secret boyfriends!” Miyeon slouched in relief. 

“You literal dumb ass,” I said. 

“What do you mean,” she whined, “I think I’m right.” 

I put my hand on her shoulder, “You know what Yuqi, you've convinced me, I think you’re right too.” 

“You’re acting weird,” she scrunched her eyebrows. 

“You know what, you should make that call you said you were gonna make, I wanna use your black card asap,” I smiled. 

“Ooh, sure thing, I get to talk to my dad,” she took my hand off her shoulder and stood up, “I’ll be back in a minute.” I can’t tell if she’s confused or scared of me with the way she's scrunching her eyebrows in my direction. 

Minnie watched her leave, “What are you talking about?” she asked me. 

“Oh she’s just gonna transfer the allowance her dad gives me to her card, because I lost mine hehe.”

“Why would her dad do that, aren’t you neighbors, doesn't that make you rich?”

“Ah well, her parents sorta are my… my sponsors?” Ugh I thought I would stop thinking about this mess for a while, it was fun while it lasted. 

“Sponsors?” 

“Yeah they paid for me and my sisters to move to Korea, because… because… yeah I got nothing,” I sighed. “Let’s just say it’s a charity sort of thing.” 

“I’m confused,” Miyeon said. 

“Me too princes, me too,” Minnie looked at me like I stepped on her foot, I don't need my intuition to tell me what jealousy looks like. 

“Oh I mean,” I waved my hands in protest, “‘Princess’ is a nickname,” and I stepped on the other foot. “Umm a nickname reserved for Yuqi,” I snapped, “Slip of the tongue, ha.” 

Miyeon started laughing, “You’re so cute,” she looked at Minnie. Then she faced me, “Because you know she’s acting all funny.” 

“Know what?” Yuqi asked as she flopped down back in her seat. 

“Goodness gracious, I don’t get how you stomp in the freaking morning then sneak up on people like that,” I said startled. 

“It’s a gift,” she said all smug. “Now what is it that Shuhua knows that I don’t?” The couple was put on the spot and looked at each other warily. 

I stepped in, “I know the names of the people they're dating,” my turn to be smug. 

Yuqi gasped, “No way!” 

“Yes way, I even know what they look like,” I nodded. 

“No fair,” she pouted. She looked to Minnie disapprovingly, “I thought you were my friend.” 

She recovered quickly, “That's what you get for ghosting me all summer.” 

“You ghosted me too!” People looked at the shouting menace again. 

“Shush princess, it’s okay,” I patted her back, “Your stupid ass will figure it out someday.” 

“I told you to stop calling me that,” Yuqi said annoyed. 

“But you’re like the princess of the Song dynasty, what else am I supposed to call you?”

“Pft, did you just make a history joke?”

“I told you I like the stories.”

“Nerd.”

“I’m literally the only one in this room who isn't a nerd.”

“Hey, some of us are just smart,” Minnie interrupted.

I gasp, “Are you calling me dumb?”

Yuqi laughed, “Dummy,” she teased. 

“Princess,” I stuck my tongue out at her. 

“The only princess here is you.”

“Oh really, how am I a princess?” 

“Because if we're technical, you are blood related to the biggest company in Asia.” Oh right, forgot about that.

“Samsung?” Miyeon asked. 

“No,” time for a dramatic pause, “Jong Incorporated.”

“What!?” Miyeon said.

“Whoa really, Shuhua?” Minnie was fascinated, “That company is like so secret.” Then, she remembered something, “Wait, but if you're related to them, why do Yuqi’s parents sponsor you.”

Yuqi was confused, “Spons-” 

“Because I… “ Wait is this supposed to be a secret? I mean I did change my name and everything. Dammit Mei. “... I don’t actually know them, it’s distant,” I shot Yuqi a glare. 

“Oh that makes sense,” Minnie accepted quickly, “I mean if you were close to them then you would have known Miyeon already.” 

“What?” I asked, why Miyeon? 

“Oh, my father's company and them are partners or something,” Miyeon said, “I have to go to the boring family get-together, but the only people from the Jong's family that actually come are Mr. Jong and his wife.” Miyeon looked at me sadly, “If you're a distant cousin then you probably know about their daughters, they all died in a car crash, they're too sad to even put up their photos. I feel so sorry for them.” Again with this fake story, just tell people the truth, or pretend like we never existed.

“Fuck them.” 

“What?” Miyeon was confused, and so was Minnie. Yuqi was about to say something.

“I’m going to go to class early,” I stood up. “See you later,” I left. I think Yuqi told me to ‘wait’, but I don’t care. First Tzuyu and now Miyeon. Why do those pricks pretend like they even care we’re gone? Like seriously, fake funerals, fake sadness? I bet they're happy they don’t have to look at our faces anymore. I know I’m happy I don’t have to look at theirs. Those freaking shits, Miyeon even seed like she genuinely felt bad for them, I think. Freaking, now my intuition is all messed up. Bastards, somehow this is probably their fault. Everything is their fault. 

I stomped my way into some random room and slammed the door shut. I put my forehead on the door and groaned loudly. I shut my eyes and slide to the floor. I think I might cry, this is their fault too. 

“Shuhua?” Suddenly a voice said from inside the room.

\------------------------------

I opened my puffy eyes, “Soyeon?” She was sitting on an old piano. 

“Oh my God, she’s crying,” she said frantically to someone sitting in the corner. Oh it’s just Seo Soojin. Soojin!?

I stood straight up and tried to hold back my tears, “Oh umm no, I’m not crying, just… umm… food makes me emotional, yeah, the cafeteria food was just so yummy.” I patted my stomach. I don’t think they bought it. 

“Oh right, that makes so much sense,” Soojin said sarcastically. You know, now that my intuition’s gone she does seem kinda cold. Her stare is worse than Wei’s. 

“Soojin!” Soyeon scolded her. “That’s not how you talk to someone who’s crying.” 

“But she's not crying,” well technically she’s right, but I think it was very obvious I was about too. 

“Anyway,” Soyeon went back to talking to me, “Are you okay?” 

No. “Yeah.” 

“You know I can tell you’re lying,” Soyeon said. She placed a sandwich down that I didn’t notice before (Soojin probably made that). She walked over to me, “You don’t have to tell me what’s wrong if you don’t want to,” Soyeon took my hand. “Do you want me to help you?” Whoa, I feel very warm right now, must be some cool Spirit shit. 

“Hey, stop. Let her resolve whatever it is by herself.” Soyeon let go of me.

“What why? I can help,” she said defensively. 

“Yeah temporarily,” she stood and walked next to us. Wow she’s so pretty. Ugh, snap out of it! “It won’t do her any good in the long run.” She shrugged. 

“Hmm, I guess you’re right.” She began to think. 

“So... I can just go.”

“You should,” Soojin said. Ouch. 

“Hey, don't be like that,” Soyeon nagged her. 

“What, I don’t want her here.” Ouch again. 

“Oh really?” Soyeon said in disbelief. Their glaring at each other. Suddenly I feel very awkward. Okie dokie, I’m just gonna quietly open the door and-

“Where do you think you’re going?” Soojin demanded. 

“But you said-”

“Whatever, just wait till the bell rings,” she waved me off and went back to her corner. 

Soyeon smiled, “Hey come on, finish telling me that story about the time your sister threw up on you at the carnival,” she grabbed my wrist and led me to the piano. 

“Where are we?”

“Oh this is the old music room,” she gestured to the assembly of random instruments scattered around. It was a long room, probably so it could fit a orchestra or something. Damn it's kinda dusty, I can already feel my nostrils burning, begging me to sneeze. “They stopped offering music classes a long time ago because the students got too into it.” She chuckled, “This is where the Ice Queen forces me to have lunch with her.” 

“I do not force you, you come willingly,” Soojin piped in from across the room. 

“Whatever you say, your highness.” She whispered so only I can hear, “I actually just come for the food.” We snickered. 

We talked the rest of the hour about nothing in particular, we even got to the topic about how tragic the MiMin relationship is, but it is oh so romantic. Soyeon is really cool, I like her presence. Also, because I had a direct view of Soojin, I can say that she probably, no definitely, isn’t interested. The girl wouldn't even spare me a glance, her eyes were glued to whoever she was texting on her phone. She kinda seemed annoyed by my presence too, this blows, like a lot. Where was that pretty aura I felt earlier, oh no I’m like Yuqi now, freaking clueless. 

\------------------------------

  
  


Speaking of Song Yuqi, where is she, class about to start. Tzuyu came in and sat down in her seat facing me, “Are you okay? I saw you leave all angry and Yuqi wouldn’t tell me anything.” Should I tell her? I mean she is the only one who actually knows about those assholes. Oh, what the heck.

“Apparently Miyeon’s met my parents,” She mouthed ‘oh’ and patted my hand. “I’m over it now,” I shrugged. She didn’t know what to say. “Hey, where’s Yuqi?” 

“Oh, she's talking to Jiwoo near the vending machines. I think she’s planning something, she was smiling a little too wide.” 

“That’s probably what happens when two overly hyper people meet,” she chuckled.

“Yeah probably,” then she turned around to sit properly.

Oh there’s Yuqi, we made eye contact, Oh my God she’s running at me. “Shushu!” she hugged me. 

“Let go of me!”

“You scared me to death, don’t ever get angry again!”

“I’m going to get angry if you keep hugging me, you leach.”

“Oh,” she let go quickly and started to straighten out my shirt, “Hehe, sorry about that.” She plopped down next to me, “Where did you even go?” 

“I was hanging out with your lady.” 

She gasped, “Not fair.” She started to smile, “Did she say anything about me?”

Yeah, quite a bit actually. “Nope,” I bopped her nose. 

“Aww man,” she pouted and I pinched her cheek as she squirmed away. 

“An old married couple I tell ya,” Tzuyu turned around.

“Eww!”

“Freaking no.” 

She laughed and turned back around to talk to her seatmate. 

“Hey I have some information for you,” Yuqi suddenly whispered like a spy.

“What are you- ” 

“Here,” she passed me a piece of paper, “These are the directions to the library, go there instead of the training room for 8th period.” 

“Yuqi, I know where- ” 

“Shhh,” she interrupted. 

“No you shush,” I crumpled the paper and threw it on her desk. “Why would I even go to the library?” 

“You will soon find out, young grasshopper,” she uncrumpled the paper and put it in my hands. “Don’t question it.” 

“You're such a- “ The bell rang and the next teacher entered the room. You’ll live today Yuqi, you'll live today. 

\------------------------------

Yuqi practically forced me out of the classroom once 7th period ended. What is with her? Well I’m here now, happy Yuqi? I looked at her map, ha she even told me where to sit. Okay so in the private room in the corner? Oh right here. It's small, the table is against the wall and could probably only fit two people at most. The room is stuffy and dark. What am I doing here? I set my stuff down on the table, ugh I can’t believe I have homework on the first day, I kinda feel bad for Wei, I’m gonna talk to her a lot. Suddenly I got the chills, oh I forgot to close the door. 

“Ah!” Someone was standing at the door, I can't tell who it was because the light was off. 

“You’re so loud,” She turned on the lights.

“Oh my God,” it’s Soojin. What did Yuqi do? “What are you doing here?”

She ignored my question, closed the door, and placed her stuff down next to mine on the table. We were quite close now, I’d better back off, I walked backwards against the wall. 

“What are you doing?” 

She ignored me again and sat down. Then she pulled out the only other seat, “Sit.” Whoa she’s scary. I quickly sat down next to her. I think I was too close because she scooted away as far as possible, which really isn't that far. Have I mentioned how pretty she is up close? “Take out your homework.” Doing that now. What is happening?

“What's going on?” 

She sighed, “I am going to tutor once a week.” What!? “Yuqi asked me to because I was the top of the class last year, and therefore I already know everything you’re going to learn.” Oh my freaking goodness.

“And you accepted?” I am confused, I thought she didn’t like me. 

“We made a bet. If she can ask Soyeon out by the end of today I will tutor you, if she can’t then I won’t tutor you and she will have to shop and buy my groceries.” What a dumb ass, there's no way she’s gonna be able to do that. And Soojin probably knows that too. “Oh and she mentioned that it would be your money for groceries and the tutoring.” Ah, she’s doing it for the money, relatable. 

“She bet my money? Oh well technically it’s her money anyways, so whatever.” 

“What?” I have to stop thinking out loud. 

“Umm, her family sponsors mine.”

She looked at me for way too long (Which was probably like 3 seconds), and I think I might be blushing. “Who are you?”

“Huh?”

“Why are you so different?” She took out her notes, “I mean, you Awoke late, your eyes are freaky, and Soyeon said you felt like a everything. What does that even mean?” I’m just as confused as you.

“Oh umm, I don’t really know about those last two things, but about that ‘Awaking’ thing, I was suppressed or whatever before you’re supposed to Awake.” 

She doesn't really seem surprised. Is this that Ice Queen emotionless thing people keep talking about? “Why would some do that?” 

“Good question, have no idea. I would ask my parents, but I haven’t spoken to them in years so that’s a dead end.” I nervously chuckled. Why did I say that, ugh this is what happens when I’m nervous. 

“Are you implying your parents are dead?” Whoa, forward much?

“No no no,” I waved my hands frantically, “I just ran away a while ago, they're not dead unfortunately.” Oh that probably sounds bad. “I mean, not like unfortunate unfortunate, just, well… “

“Do you wish your parents were dead?” she said a little more softly. Her voice is so amazing.

“Umm, well, I… umm,” I sighed defeated, “I guess kinda.” 

“‘Kinda’... Why did you run away?” Why are you so curious?

“Look I dunno dude, but what I do know that is that I preferred living in a room with my sisters over living in a mansion with my parents.”

“Why would you live in one room, I thought Yuqi’s family sponsored you?” 

“Oh, that’s like a very recent deal.” Well not technically, but technically anyway. 

“Ah, okay,” she noted. “What’s your worst subject?” 

“Huh?”

“In school, what’s your worst subject?” she repeated. I guess the interview is over. 

“Oh, Korean. I’m from Taiwan so, yeah.” Then she shuffled through my papers. 

“That makes sense, your accent is cute.” Oh my God! Did she just say…

“Cute?” 

“I mean… like a kids accent. Kids are… cute.” I swear she was blushing. “Here do this,” she pointed to my Korean homework, I hope that was deflecting. 

“Sure thing.” I thought for a moment before starting and looked at her, “I think your voice is cute.” Is that a weird compliment, judging from the way she looks like she's gonna punch me so I'm gonna say yes. 

“Don't do that?”

“Do what?” I asked innocently.

“You keep complimenting me, stop it,” she was firm.

“I want to though.”

“You shouldn't, because if you keep doing that you'll give me the wrong idea.”

“It's probably not the wrong idea,” I faced away from her and down to my work.

“...Then you should know that I don't agree with this idea,” I don't feel like seeing the scowl that's probably on her face. 

“I've realized," I sighed, “but I can't help it.” I started to work and she never responded.

The rest of the period was spent in awkward company, with the occasional awkward questions and answers. She helped me with everything except English, she said Yuqi would be a better at it. I guess she's not Miss Perfect… Oh who am I kidding, she is perfect. Also she left the second the bell rang with a ‘Bye’, still no ‘Goodbye’. I seriously don’t think she likes me. Why did she do this again? Oh right, for Soyeon and money. I can’t believe she’s torturing herself for her friend, that’s kinda really nice. I knew my intuition was right, ah where did you go my old friend? 

\------------------------------

Anyway I’m standing outside my dorm now. Planning on how to strangle Yuqi. I could hear her loud ass laugh from all the way down the hall, so I know she’s in there. I should probably just be quick, like a ninja. Yeah, that'll do. 

I slam the door open, “Song Yuqi!” I spot her on her bed.

“Oh shoot,” she frantically tried to leap off, but not before I could tackle her. 

“You,” I scolded, I was now on top of her, pinning her by her hands. “You little shit.”

She chuckled nervously, “It was a surprise.” I glared at her. “Please have mercy on me,” I glare harder, if that's possible. She shuts her eyes and faces left, “This is my bad side, make it quick.”

“I’m not gonna slap you, idiot.” I flop down to lay next to her. 

She breathed out in relief, “Thank God, I thought I was dead.”

“Next time you do something stupid, give me a freaking warning,” I huffed. 

She kept quiet for a couple moments, “Why was it stupid again?” She asked innocently.

“Because she doesn't like me.”

“Oh, I guess she not ga- “

“I mean like, as a person. She doesn't like me as a person. I guess it was nice to figure that out now rather than later.” I remembered something, “Too bad I have to pay for her groceries now,” I sigh. (I should just kill her, right?)

“I thought you said she was cool.”

“Yeah well I can’t tell anymore, my people reading senses don’t seem to be working well today.”

“Weird,” we stared at the ceiling. “But you were right about Miyeon though.”

“What?”

“You know when you said she was nice and all. When you left she wouldn’t stop worrying about what she said,” she chuckled, “she was all ‘Yuqi tell her I’m sorry’ and ‘Should I chase after her?’ And then Minnie was like trying to comfort her and all.” She patted my shoulder, “I thought she was a big ol’ meanie or something, but nah she’s just a softy like you said. I still don’t get how she got so close to Minnie so fast, Minnie is never that nice to me.”

Hmm, I guess maybe Soojin’s just need her wall to be melted, or some other metaphorical shit like that. “Maybe you’re right.”

“Yeah that happens a lot.”

“Doesn’t change that fact that I’m going to be paying for her groceries though,” I sigh. 

“What no! I’m going to win the bet.”

“Oh really,” I said in disbelief.

“Yeah obviously. All I have to do is ask Soyeon to hang out with me.” Does she not get it? Hopeless, I tell ya. 

“Do you realize what ‘hanging out’ means?”

“Yeah, it means going into town together, or doing homework at the library. I do that all the time with everyone.”

“Okay but it will just be the two of you.”

“And?” I gave her some time to think. She shot up, “Oh my God. Soojin wants me to ask Soyeon out on… on a… date!?”

“Took you long enough, again it was obvious.”

“No it was not!” She turns around to look down at me with pleading eyes. “What am I going to do?”

“How am I supposed to know?”

“I don’t know, haven't you asked someone out on a date before.”

“You're the only one here who's ever been on a date, I have never even asked someone out on one,” I sat up and met her wide eyes. Is that really hard to believe?

“But you said you’ve kissed girls.” 

“Yeah, and boys, but at like parties.”

“Boys!?”

I ignored her, “No one has ever actually liked me, weirdly enough the only person I have met that hasn’t immediately disliked me after spending more than 5 minutes around me is Tzuyu. Well that was before a month ago, obviously.” 

“What seriously?” 

“Also I can’t actually remember having a crush on anyone either,” I ponder back for a second. “Ha well I did want to like you, but unfortunately you’re not my type, and fortunately I’m not yours.” 

“Me!?”

“You know but I think I have a plan for this whole Soyeon thing actually.”

That took her back to her senses. “What is it?”

“Well you only have about 6 hours before tomorrow, so we have to make this quick, but I think we can do it. But before that I have some news for you,” I clapped my hands. 

“What?”

“Soyeon likes you back!” her eyes widened again, “So she's definitely gonna say ‘yes’.”

“What!? How do you know that?”

“Many reasons but the main one is that her closest friend just asked you to ask her out, which probably means she talks about you like that you know?”

“Like what?”

“Like,” clap my hands together and pretend to swoon,”’I like Yuqi so much. She’s so cute. She probably doesn't even notice me. I just want to kiss-”

“Okay stop! I get it!” Everything seems to sink in. His face lit up with a dreamy smile, “Jeon Soyeon likes me.” She lets herself fall back down on the bed, “Jeon Soyeon likes me, like me me.” 

“I think we've established this.”

“Jeon Soyeon likes me,” she hums in happiness. Must be nice. Ugh, not now, this is about Yuqi. Oh right we need to get ready.

“Snap out of it, we need to go to that town you were talking about.” I jump off the bed and stand over her. 

“Huh, why?”

“You’ll see,” I smile mischievously then wank her off the bed. 

“Ow!” I drag her out.

“Come on slowpoke.”

\------------------------------

Everything is set up perfectly. It’s almost 11 and I just called Soyeon to meet me in the old music room. Everyone else is already here. Yuqi texted Minnie for support, and I made her text Soojin too, for umm, to be a witness. Because it is her bet and all. Anyway I need to get her number. Oh and I texted Miyeon to come to, for Minnie and for Soojin. Plus I think Yuqi will feel better with a crowd anyway. 

“Okay she’s on her way from the dorms,” I went up to a very anxious Yuqi.

“Oh my God no,” she whispered.

“It will be fine,’ I whisper back and wave at her dismissively. “You’re just gonna say your speech and she’s gonna say yes and in like a week you’re gonna be the girlfriend of a girl you have been crushing on for over a freaking year, even if you didn’t notice.”

“That sounds very scary,” she started to pace. “You know what let's just call it off, you’re probably wrong about her liking me anyway.”

“Don’t you wanna find out if I’m right though?”

“So much,” she groaned and took my arms. “Slap me.”

“What?” I chuckled, but she didn't stop staring at me with her serious face. “I am not slapping you.”

She faced to the left, “My bad side remember.”

“Nobody has a bad side, stupid.” I shrugged her hands off me. “Just man up princess, if you feel like flaking after you see her then you can slap me,” I cupped the right side of her face, “Then I’ll have to slap you back,” I said in all seriousness. I let go of her and looked at my phone, “Okay she’s gonna be here any minute now, I’m gonna over there.” I pointed to the piano where everyone was standing, “and you can practice breathing exercises or something. Good luck asshole.” And I turned around and walked to the other side of the room. 

“So can you tell me why I was woken up from my beauty sleep to walk all the way to school just so we can sit around and do nothing,” Miyeon asked with a yawn. 

“I think Yuqi’s gonna give us a present,” Minnie said from her left side while eyeing the yellow gift box in Yuqi’s hands. 

“That’s probably for Soyeon,” Soojin said from Miyeon's other side. “I didn’t actually think she would go through with it,” she had a hint of disappointment in her voice. Again ouch. 

“Go through with what?” Miyeon asked, but before I could answer the door open, almost hitting Yuqi in the process. 

“Ah!” Yuqi said. 

“Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t think anyone would be there,” Soyeon said, concerned over a hunched Yuqi. 

She straightened her stance and started to rub at the back of her neck. “Oh no that’s fine, I’m all good,” she blushed. Awkward silence.

Soyeon looked at the rest of us, then at me, “What's going on Shuhua, you said it was an emergency.” 

“Yeah sorry, I lied. Yuqi here has something to ask you.” I made contact with the bundle of nerves, “Fighting!”

“What is it Yuqi?” Soyeon turned back to her. They were standing awfully close, and I have the slight inclination that Soyeon probably has an idea of what’s going on. 

“Umm well you see,” she forgot her speech. Soyeon was being very patient, waiting for the question. “I wanted to say that...” she looked Soyeon in the eyes finally. “You are so pretty,” and she blushed even harder as Soyeon smiled slyly. “No! That’s not what I meant to say! I mean you are pretty but that is not…” She sighed and closed her eyes. “I had a speech prepared.” 

“You can still say it,” Soyeon reassured her. 

“I don’t really think I can,” Yuqi kept her eyes closed. 

Soyeon grabbed Yuqi’s free hand with both of her own making Yuqi’s eyes snap open. “How about now,” I would tell you that she is using her powers to calm Yuqi but her eyes remain their normal brown.

Yuqi let out a breath and after a few seconds of staring at their hands, she began, “I want to say that I like you.” They locked eyes again. Soyeon smiled and I think that gave Yuqi the courage to continue. “I really like you, more than I think I do even,” she chuckled, “The moment you first spoke to me I felt like time stopped and I froze, I wasn’t even able to say anything back. And you have been invading my mind ever since. We’re not even friends, but I probably know more about you than I’d like to admit. I promise it’s not in a creepy way” Soyeon laughed. “More of in a subconscious sort of staring and remembering kinda thing. I know that your favorite color is yellow, that you hate vegetables, that you don’t like to show off, even though you have a lot to show off.,” she emphasized the ‘a lot’. I could see their grips tightening, “and that you like to play video games in the top floor computer lab. But, I’m kinda tired of only knowing the basics about you. I want to know you, like on a personal kind of level.” She took one more big breath and put on her confident smile, “So, I was wondering, if you would like to, you don’t have to say yes, but if you wanna that would be cool too.” Get to the point. “Umm, so what I’m trying to say is… will you go... on a date… with me?” she said warily.

Soyeon, who had the biggest smile on her face, nodded and said, “Of course I would like to go on a date with you,” she chuckled. 

All signs of fear left Yuqi’s demeanor, “Really?” she said happily. “Like really really?”

Soyeon laughed, “Yes, ‘really really’, Yuqi.” 

“That’s really really cool.”

“I agree.” 

They stared at each other for a bit when Yuqi remembered something. “Oh right,” she reluctantly let go of Soyeon's hands, “I have something for you.” She raised the box, “It’s a gift,” Soyeon took it in her hands, “you can open it.”

And she did, the box revealed a bundle of soft pink fabric, matching what Yuqi was wearing right now. Soyeon pulled it out of its place revealing a hoodie, one that was definitely too big on her, but also definitely the perfect fit. “It’s a new one, this time we can match,” she gestured to herself, as she was indeed wearing it’s twin. “Also it’s my favorite color this time, I didn’t want to give you one you already had so I thought that it would be nice if you had one that was special. Not saying that the other one isn’t special, this on is just a different one and- “

“I love it,” she put it on over her T-shirt. Yuqi was right. She is very cute. “Thank you,” she said sincerely. 

Yuqi blushed again and nodded, probably because she couldn’t say anything. 

“We can talk about the date tomorrow, I will have lunch with you,” Soyeon said and took her hand. “Right now I wanna brag about you to Soojin,” and she pulled Yuqi towards us. 

“Oh umm, sure,” she managed. 

They approached us and Soyeon let go of her wrist to pull at her new sweater in front of Soojin, “Look.” 

“Cute,” she sounded bored. 

“Mhmm,” she wasn't affected by Soojin's coldness. 

“That was so cute!” Miyeon beamed by leaning on Soojin for dramatic effect. Soojin didn’t finch or anything. Oh right, their close. Soon the three, or more the two, got into a conversation about romance and shit. 

Yuqi was still frozen behind her, I see, it’s my time. I dragged Yuqi a little ways away from the rest and Minnie followed. “That is not what I expected to happen,” Minnie said, “But I’m very happy for you,” she patted her shoulder. 

“Yeah, very happy,” I added. The girl was still in a state of shock. So I’m going to do what I have to do… slap her. 

The sound echoes through the room, although not disturbing the other girls, because it wasn’t even that hard (I'm not a monster). “Ow,” she rubbed her face, “That hurt.” 

“It was only necessary, your resting shocked face is a little ugly,” I said and Minnie stifled a laugh. 

“Hey! No it is not!” 

“Whatever you say.” I chuckle. “That was a very romantic speech you said, 100% better than the one we made.” 

“What was the one you made?”

I turned to Minnie, put on my best flirty face, and placed my hand on her shoulder, “Hey so I’ve liked you for a while and I think it’s about time I act on my feelings. Would you,” I pause and slide my hand down into hers’, “wanna hang out sometime?” 

She acts with me, “Oh yes Shuhua, I would love to go out with you,” and she made heart eyes. 

“Cringe.” Yuqi said, while cringing. 

We laughed and I put her arm around me, “What are you jealous of? If I recall correctly you did the same thing to me like an hour ago.” 

“I cannot imagine Yuqi flirting.” 

“It’s bad.” 

“Makes sense.”

“Hey!” Yuqi boomed and caught everyone’s attention. “It was not that bad.”

“What wasn’t that bad?” Miyeon said while they walked up to us. 

“Yuqi flirting skills” Minnie chuckled. 

“They're okay,” Soyeon said.

“What not you too,” Yuqi whined. 

“It took you like 5 minutes to get the girl, look,” I grabbed hold of Minnie who still had her arm around me, “Took me like 5 seconds.” Soyeon and Minnie laughed at Yuqi, while she scowled at me. The other two stayed silent. Oh right, Miyeon is Minnie’s girlfriend and Soojin is, well Soojin. I just realized that the only person who doesn't know about MiMin is Yuqi, damn always late to the game I see. 

I make eye contact with Miyeon and there's fire in her eyes. I nudged Minnie and she realized the situation quickly and released me. “Anyway, it’s late, we should head back to the dorms,” she said deflecting. 

“We should,” Miyeon agrees and Soojin is already walking towards the door. 

“Wait for me,” Soyeon says and grabs Yuqi’s hand to haul her with her. The dust from their swift movements makes me feel like I need to sneeze again. Oh, here it comes, and- 

“Ahchoo!”

Fire, I just sneezed fire. It made everyone stop in their tracks, while Miyeon raced to put out the flames on the piano. Well, that’s interesting. 

No one dared acknowledge what just happened, well except Yuqi, “Umm, bless you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first time writing anything that isn't an essay for school, and y'all's comments make me unnecessarily giddy lol
> 
> Next chapter the gang becomes it's exclusive self. 
> 
> Also if you're confused about the food seating arrangements:  
> SA NY YQ SH  
> TY JN MY MIN


	6. The Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My computer froze and I had to do the indentions on my phone, I'm sightly annoyed at how hard that was.

Shuhua.

* * *

What the actual freak just happened? This is Wei’s phone all over again. It's been quite way too long, so far all we’ve managed to do is sit in a circle on the ground. I think Miyeon is falling asleep, and Yuqi seems to want to say something. Soojin and Soyeon are lost in thought and Minnie is bored and making tiny air balls float in between her fingers, never realized that silver eyes were like my total favorite. I’m doing nothing. Am I supposed to do something? I’m probably supposed to say something. Dammit. 

“So…” everyone stopped and looked at me, freaking this looks like a cult. “That was… not expected.” 

“It actually kinda was,” Soyeon said. 

“How so?” Minnie asked. 

“Well remember I said you felt like everything, this,” she gestured to the slightly burnt piano, “Is probably what that meant.”

“Oh right,” I said. 

“Does that mean she’s like an Earth-Fire hybrid?” Miyeon asked Soyeon.

“No, that’s not a thing,” she answered.

“Maybe your mom was a Fire,” Yuqi said. I shrugged, like I would know. 

“But Soyeon said ‘everything’, that means she felt all 5 elements.” Soojiin added.

“That is what I meant,” Soyeon confirmed. 

“Oh, then I’m very confused,” Yuqi said.

“I think we’re all confused, shithead,” they looked at me with scolding faces, while Yuqi nodded, not noticing her defense. “Sorry, reflex.” They'll get used to the cursing someday. 

“So what are we gonna do?” Minnie asked Soyeon.

“We can't tell the headmaster,” she said.

“What, why?”

“He seems…” she tilted her head trying to find the right word, “corrupt?” I don’t know that word. 

“Cor-whata?” 

“Corrupt” Yuqi said in Chinese. 

“Ahh, yeah totally.” I remember back to when I met him to ask for my student plan, “He’s a total douche, when we spoke he felt very off putting, like when I made eye contact with him everything went the color red,” I looked at Miyeon, “No offence… oh wait should I be offended now?” 

“You could tell that by just meeting him once?” Soyeon asked.

“Yeah, it’s intuition, although when I met him this morning I couldn’t feel anything. He was just his normal condescending ass self.” 

“That’s interesting,” Soojin said.

“Why?” I looked at her. Bad idea, she's pretty, abort. 

“Well, that’s a Spirit thing, but not even Soyeon can sense an aura with one glace, it takes time. It’s a very advanced skill.” 

“Yeah no, there’s no way that’s what it is. I’ve had good intuition for years, way before I woke up.” 

“I thought you said it stopped working,” Yuqi reminded me.

“That’s true, and it kinda blows, I can’t tell how you guys are feeling anymore.”

“Is that how you knew me and Minnie were,” she glanced at Yuqi, “you know.”

“I mean yeah, but you guys are obvious, I was focused on my food and could still tell.”

“Tell what?” Yuqi asked. “Oh that you guys got close because of your boyfriends,” Soyeon faced palms. 

“I can tell why you call her an idiot,” she said.

“What is it this time?” She began to think, “Don’t tell me,” she pointed accusingly at the two annoyed faces, “y'all are… dating the same guy.”

“Oh my God,” Minnie said, “Can we just tell her, she'll never figure it out,” she asked Miyeon. 

“Sure, she is the only one who doesn't know anyway.” She looked at Yuqi, “But if you tell any of your little friends I will burn your hair off.” 

Yuqi finches, “I don’t think I would look good bald,” she caressed her hair. 

“Hmm, your head shape is actually pretty good for it,” Miyeon said. 

“I agree,” Soyeon said and Yuqi pouted at her. 

“Anyway Yuqi, Miyeon and I are together,” Minnie said abruptly and Miyeon blushed. 

Yuqi tilted her head, “I don’t follow-” Minnie out her arm around Miyeon, “Oh… ohh!”

“Took you long enough,” I said.

“You always say- Wait! You knew before me!” She looked at Minnie, “I thought I was your friend first!”

“Jealousy is the killer of man,” I said.

“I thought that was pride,” she tried to tease me.

“There are many killers of man.”

“Still not a man.”

“Still alive too… it’s only a matter of time.” 

She gasped and put one hand over her heart, “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Watch me,” I narrowed my eyes at her.

“... wip,” she did the wip and proceeded, “watch me nae nae.”

I don’t know what to say to that. “Minnie?”

“Yes?”

“Tell her how long you two have been dating.”

She smiled, “almost 3 years,” she stated proudly.

Yuqi gasped again, “Minnie! I’ve known you for 4!”

Minnie just laughed in response while Soyeon attempted to comfort a sulking Yuqi. By this point Soojin already had nudged Miss Sleeping Beauty to get up and head towards the door, she complied immediately.

I began a whisper, “let’s go,” I ordered Minnie. She nodded and we made our way out leaving the fetus couple in our wake. 

Yuqi didn’t get back till much later that night, or would it be morning, oh whatever. 

\------------------------------

The rest of the week passed without much talk between us. I was stuck practicing my rock skills with Ms. Kim everyday after school, and let’s just say I kept arriving to dinner late. Which is the most unfortunate thing because Soyeon had been forcing Soojin to eat dinner with us, she opted out for lunch, must be lonely in the music room. Oh, but get this, every time I entered the cafeteria she was leaving it. Like literally at the exact same time, and unlike Yuqi I could tell it was intentional. Speaking of the lovely Princess, she is currently on her date, apparently on Friday nights the arcade has special discounts, making it Soyeon's favorite time to go (Yuqi didn’t even consider that fact). It's currently 10 and I’m trying to stay up to tease her, but the training, which goes on the whole day on Mondays and Fridays, makes my bed ever more tempting. Also not to brag but my skills have been progressing much faster than expected, I’m a freaking prodigy, take that Yuqi. It kinda makes me wonder how I would fare with the whole Fire thing, but I haven’t tried it since I, you know, sneezed. 

Suddenly the door opened and I was tackled in my blanket before I could even turn around. “Shuhuaaaaa,” Yuqi whined. 

“Get off of me,” I struggled.

“What's the magic word?”

“Are you kidding me?” she didn't budge. “Ugh fine, abracadabra.” 

“Kay kay,” she slid the foot of my bed and sat crisscross.

I mirrored her against the back-frame. “So, how did it go?”

Her smile widened, “absolutely supper! Soyeon is… Soyeon is…”

“Absolutely supper?” I chuckled. 

“Yeah!” Then she took something out of her pink front pocket, “Look what she won me,” she got closer, and waved the giraffe plushie in my face.

“Wow, very suiting,” I say, remembering her room. “Do you like it more than Jack?”

She nods furiously, “way more.” 

“Good,” I snatch it away.

“Hey!”

I point a finger to her bed, “Go to sleep,”

“But my- “

“This is the only way to force you to stop talking,” I emphasized my finger, “I’m sleepy.”

“Humph, fine,” she goes to her side of the room and puts on her pajamas. “Happy now?” she lays down. 

“Very,” I threw the plushie at her and turned around before she could protest. Sleep time.

\------------------------------

“Where are we going?” I asked the group of girls in front of me. Nobody cared to answer, which is freaking annoying because we were in the creepy ass woods in front of the school. Soyeon was leading the way with Yuqi at her side, Soojin was behind them, and Miyeon was holding Minnie’s wrist behind her. You might be wondering, what cult-like stroll through the woods is this? Well, I would love to tell you but all the text that Soyeon sent in the newly-created group chat this morning was ‘Let’s go to the Heart.’ And everyone was like ‘yeah sure’, and I’m confused what a freaking ‘Heart’ is. Like do you mean that thing pumping inside your chest, or what? And we stopped walking, great.

“Okay here it is,” Soyeon said. We’re standing in front of a large cleaning. Like when I say large I mean pretty freaking big. There's a river at the far end or it that banks into a small rocky beach. And in the middle was a concrete rectangle planted to the ground, also in the trees surrounding the clearing there were rope and wood bridges connecting them. It's all very pretty. 

“Whoa,” I said in awe as we stepped into it. 

“Yeah, pretty cool right,” Yuqi said, “This is where the students come to play, you can only get here with an advanced Spirit so that means the headmaster doesn't know about it.” Oh right, the headmaster is a Fire. “We've never even had a Spirit headmaster at this school, Spirits got better things to do probably.”

“How about the Spirit teachers?”

“They let this happen, they realize that we kids just want to have fun and use our gifts outside of school sometimes,” Soyeon said. “I reserved it for today, so nobody will bother us.”

“So cool, but what are we doing anyway?”

“I’m gonna train you,” Miyeon piped in. 

“Oh… Oh!” So that’s what’s happening here. 

“Come on,” she started walking towards the concrete rectangle. Oh I get it, so like fire won’t burn down everything. I followed and Yuqi and Minnie did too. Soyeon and Soojin made their way to the beach however. 

In the middle of the rectangle there was an etched in heart, makes sense now, we’re like at the heart of the forest or whatever. Miyeon motioned me to stand in front of her. 

“Okay so lesson 1, to make a flame.” She held out her hand, her eyes shone an orange-red color, and lo and behold a small flame appeared and began to dance around in her hand. “Now I don’t expect you to get it right away, but all you have to do is- “

“Got it.” I had a flame in my hand, it was only warm. Yuqi clapped from the sidelines and Minnie elbowed her to stop. 

“What how?” She inspected the fire.

“It’s just like Earth but… umm… different?” 

“Really... okay.” She thought for a moment. “Let's try to make a ball.” She clapped her hands together and slowly separated them till there was a fireball the size of a basketball between them. “Now you.”

I nodded and began to copy her, this one was harder because I had to direct the fire in a circular direction, to make it into a spherical shape. But still, it wasn’t too hard. 

I looked up an Miyeon and she was looking at my hands with furrowed eyebrows and a tilted head. “Why is this so easy for you?” 

I shrugged, but Yuqi had to interject, “I know right it’s not fair. I think she learned at least 2 years of Earth gifts in like 5 days,” she thought, “But it’s not perfect, her memory of what she learns is subadequate.” 

“Hey!” 

“What, it’s only true,” she shrugged. I guess she’s right, Mis. Kim had to keep repeating lessons and stances, whatever. 

“That’s like so awesome though,” Minnie said.

“That is also true,” Yuqi agreed. 

“Okay then, let’s stop dillydallying, we have work to do,” Miyeon said. “How about we try a ring this time?” I smile and noddle. This is gonna be so cool, or should I say hot?

\------------------------------

“Break time,” Miyeon said while trying to catch her breath. I just fell to the ground in response. 

We’ve been at it for like 3 hours and let me just say Fire makes you sweat much more than Earth. “Yuqi!” I whined. 

“What?” she rushed to hovered over me, “Are you dying?”

“Obviously.” 

She gasps, and takes my hand in hers, “Oh no, you can’t leave me now,” she whipped away non-existent tears. “My birthday’s next month and you must get me a present.” 

“Oh my God,” swatted her hand away. Her selfishness made me have strength to move from the hot concrete to the cool grass next to MiMin. 

“Shu you did so well,” Minnie praised me.

“Thanks, at least someone appreciates my hard work,” I glared at Yuqi who was back next to me. “Thank you too Miyeon.”

She smiled, “Anything for my cute little student.” She ruffled my hair and I instinctively pushed her hand away and glared at her too. 

“So… “ Minnie said with a cheeky smile, “How’s it going with Soojin?” Ugh don’t remind me.

I glanced over to where she and Soyeon were talking, “I think she hates me.”

“What why?” 

“Because she obviously dislikes my presence, haven’t you noticed that we never eat at the same time,” Minnie nodded. “Well that’s because Soojin leaves when I come, I think that’s a sure signal she doesn't like me.” 

“Well you have to get close at some point,” Yuqi said, “I mean you’re gonna spend every Tuesday in 8th period with her in a small cramped room.” 

I just realized something, “You’re the one that chose that study room,” I sneered at her, she winked.

“Wait what’s happening?” Miyeon asked. 

“Soojin’s gonna tutor Shuhua.” Yuqi answers. 

“She would never, really?” she couldn’t believe it.

“Unfortunately,” a voice said, over our little circle; Soojin. 

“Oh my goodness, you scared me,” Miyeon said. 

“Lunch time,” Soyeon said happily, raising the picnic basket Yuqi carried on the way there. 

“Thank God, I’m starving,” Yuqi said and pulled Soyeon down next to her. That left a space for Soojin to sit right in front of me, talk about a distraction. 

“Here,” Yuqi passed me a small container. Oh my God this must be Soojin’s food.

I opened it, it was kimbap and rice. I love rice. Everyone began to eat. I took a section of the perfectly cut kimbap and stuffed it in my mouth. Whoa, this is so good, even better than Mei’s (Sorry not sorry). I made a groaning sound of satisfaction and put a thumbs up to Yuqi who was looking less, but probably still very much so, satisfied. I turn to glance at Soojin, she’s looking at me. I feel my cheeks start to heat up, I must have been too loud. And I hear Minnie stifle a laugh from beside me, which doesn’t help my embarrassment. She looks away.

We ate quickly and in silence. Miyeon let Minnie take her last piece then Soyeon started, “So, I was thinking about Shuhua and I think I figured something out.” Everyone except Soojin seemed interested, this is probably what they were talking about earlier. Wait, that means Soojin was talking about me. Wait, don’t get ahead of yourself, they were talking about your weird ass powers. Right, so not me me. “I think that maybe you Awakened your Spirit power first, or at least part of it, and that’s why it seemed like your Awakening was suppressed. And then once your Earth opened up, your eyes began to glow because that’s your main element, per your eye color. Then you Awoke your Fire gift. And we can only assume that the others will come next.” 

“Huh, that actually makes sense,” Yuqi said. 

“The only thing I don’t get is how or why you parents said they suppressed you.” So Soojin didn’t mention me running away? All eyes were on me now. 

“Oh umm, I guess I should just tell you guys the parts of the story that I actually know.” I took a breath of encouragement, “So like my older sister took me and my younger sister to the airport around 4 years ago when I was 12. Because I didn’t know what was going on, and my baby sister definitely didn’t know what was going on, you can technically say she kidnapped us, but by the time I did figure out what was happening I gladly ran away with her.” Yuqi has heard this story and Soojin has heard some of it so they were the only ones without confused faces. I continued, “My parents never told me they were Elementals, my sister apparently knew my father was an Earth, but she never told me the story about that revelation,” I chuckled, “She hasn’t told me anything actually. That’s why I can’t tell you much, because there's nothing to tell.” I thought for a moment, “I only found out last month that Yuqi’s parents were the ones who smuggled us into Korea, before that they never even contacted us. I almost regretted leaving home considering I went from the mansion lifestyle to illegally working as a minor everyday.” I remembered something, “Oh right,” I looked at Miyeon, “My actual name is Jong Shuhua, second daughter of Jong Incorporated.” 

She was taken aback, “But I thought… “, she tilted her head. “Your parents think you’re dead.” 

I laughed, “No no, my guess is they wish I was dead.” Apparently that was the wrong way to put it because everyone’s looking at me with concern planted right on their faces. “Ah I meant… well what I meant to say is… “ I looked to Yuqi for help.

“Oh, you want me to…?” Yuqi looked at everyone, “I am deflecting the topic now,” she smiled. I face palmed, subtlety Yuqi subtlety. I think by this point each of the girls probably had their own assumptions about my relationship with my parents. 

“Don’t worry,” Miyeon said, “My father is a douche bag too.” She smiled at me in the hopes of comfort, but that only made me worry. To what extent is he a douche bag? The same as mine, worse? Ugh now this is gonna be all I can think about. 

“Yeah, he sucks,” That was the first real emotion I have ever heard coming out of Soojin’s mouth, and it was disgust of all things. 

“You know him?” Yuqi asked. 

“Mhmm, I know you’re parents too apparently,” she looked at me. 

“What?”

“Miyeon’s dad, my mom, and you’re parents have been business friends for years.” What? Why, no, does that mean she also felt bad like Miyeon? 

“That’s…” I glared at Yuqi, “I thought you said this school wasn’t full of rich kids.” 

“Hmm, never noticed,” she shrugged awkwardly. 

“Well, I guess at least Soyeon isn’t,” I said absentmindedly, “Not that being rich is a bad thing or whatever,” I tried not to offend the rest. 

“How do you know I’m not rich?” Soyeon said. 

“The discount arcade.” 

“Ah, well since we’re sharing all our secrets, I would like to tell you that although I haven’t met your parents, I have been in their, or I guess your old, house before.”

“Oh my God, you too,” I sighed. 

“Yeah, my mother is Soojin’s parents cleaning lady. We live in their back house and we always go on the annual Taiwan trip, not to actually mingle with the people, but to take care of the Seo’s.” 

“Woah, that’s like so weird,” I thought out loud. 

“What is?” Yuqi asked.

“Well all of us, except Minnie,” I glanced at Minnie who looked the most out of place on the group, “are already connected through our parents,” I shrugged. “I just think that’s kinda weird, you know?” They nodded in agreement. 

“This is more complicated than I thought,” Yuqi said. 

“Obviously, Princess.”

“You know I never payed you back for that time you slapped me,” she threatened me. 

“I dare you.” 

“Okay now, if y'all wanna fight, do it over there,” she pointed to the empty space in the Heart.

Yuqi’s eyes lit up, “Come on, let’s go,” she pulled me up by my wrist toward the apace. 

“Ouch, what the heck,” I whined. 

\------------------------------

Her glowing dark green eyes glared at me with determination. Her stance was a perfect slight crouch, grounding her with balance. I stared back, the glow of light green eyes, almost white in the sun. My stance was not nearly as prepared, just a standing figure probably 4 meters between us. 

“Ready… Fight!” Someone shouted, I think Minnie. 

From the ground beneath my feet large flowers sprung from the soil and began to tangle themselves around me, keeping me in place. “Oh wow,” I said. 

Yuqi then produced a boulder of compacted dirt from the ground, and hurled it at me. This, this I can deal with. I caught it in the air and three it back with equal force. She dodged it and started running towards me. She smirked, oh right, I’m freaking tangled. 

Ugh this is annoying. I looked behind me, the beach. I focused on all of the medium sized rocks, trying to make each of them levitate. I got a good amount and made a rock wall in front of me. “You do realize I can just,” she began to take down my wall piece by piece. We were fighting for control of the rocks. 

“Hey!” She only laughed in response. 

I could feel her control on the flowers loosen and I forced myself out of place before she could see me. I let go of the rock wall, and all of the rock came hiring at her like a rubber band. She was pulling, “Stupid,” I called her when she fell in the ground. 

“Ow,” she said, but that didn’t seem to stop her attacks. She took one of the rocks that were now scattered around her in her hands and three it at me with full force.

“Oh no.” It hit me square in the stomach and hurried me backwards. I heard her chuckle and then she was on top of me, pining my hands. 

“Ah ha!” she said triumphantly, “I won!” 

“Ugh, it’s because I forgot super-strength was a thing!”

“Hehe,” she stuck her tongue out. I blew in her face, “Your breath smells like kimbap.” 

“I wonder why.” 

“Are you two just gonna lay there looking like you're about to kiss forever,” Minnie said. 

“Eww,” Yuqi said and immediately got off of me, while I scrambled away. 

“Ugh, I would have won if I used Fire,” we walked over to everyone else. 

“We couldn’t risk Yuqi getting burnt,” Soyeon stated, “Soojin probably doesn't want to waist her time healing her.” 

“Plus that’s not fair,” Yuqi said. 

“Whatever.”

We sat in silence for a couple moments then Minnie suddenly stood to face us. “I have an idea,” she smiled. 

“What is it?” Miyeon said. 

“Well, let’s try to Awaken you Air, I mean all it is is fire but not hot.” 

“Stop saying that, they are different,” Miyeon said. 

“Well then what else would you call fire, the three states of matter are liquid, air, and solid.” She crossed her arms, “last I checked fire is neither liquid or solid.” 

“She has a point,” Soyeon said. 

“No, don’t engage, have been arguing about this for years,” Yuqi said.

“Anyway, come on Shuhua, let’s try.” She beckoned me up. 

“Sounds fun,” I said and stood. 

“Okay so the order that Airs get their gifts means that we should start with floating. Unlike Fires when we control our Element it is through our whole body and not just our hands or feet.” She stepped back, “Look,” her eyes started glowing sliver and the air around her swirled, making me feel a breeze. That’s freaking awesome, she’s literally flying. She kept rising till she was at the height of the tall trees, and landed on the bridges. So that’s what those are for. “Come on!” I think she shouted. 

“That looks kinda scary.” I said under my breath. 

“She’ll catch you if you fall,” Miyeon said. 

“But I don’t wanna fall,” I couldn’t take my eyes off of how far up Minnie seems. 

“Then don’t look down?” Yuqi offered. 

“Ugh, be quiet,” I took a deep breath, “I’m concentrating.”

With Earth and Fire there was something I could focus on; a rock, my hand. But with this, what am I supposed to look at? Minnie, I’ll look at Minnie. I feel my insides tingle and suddenly my own weight isn’t a factor of my being. 

“Whoa,” I hear Yuqi whisper.

“Shush,” Soyeon said. 

Minnie is getting bigger, bigger, bigger. We were face to face, “Did I do it?”

“Mhmm,” she smiled wide, “You just need to get on the bridge.” 

“Oh,” I didn’t want to look down to see where the actual bridge was, so I opted for grabbing the air in Minnie's direction. 

She chuckled, and grabbed my hands and pulled my forward, “You can open your eyes now.” I guessed I closed my eyes in the process. 

“Will do,” I opened them. Whoa, I can see over the tops of the trees. “This feels nice.” 

“Yeah I know right.” I was still holding on to her, and you can be damn sure I am not going to let go. “They're waving to you if you wanna look down.” 

“Fuck no.”

“Even Soojin.” Really? 

“... I... “ I tried to open my eyes, “Nope, nope, not gonna happen.” 

“Pft, okay.” 

“This is nice and all, but can we go back down.”

“Sure, do you want me to-”

“Yes.” 

She laughed and I closed my eyes. I started to feel weightless again, and the air around me circulated. Then I was no longer weightless. “We’re down right?” I asked Minnie.

“Yup.” I opened my eyes to everyone now standing up.

“I don’t think I like flying so high.”

“That’s fine, we can still do this,” she faced Yuqi and blew in her face. I when I say blew I mean like a full on gust of wind. 

I laughed at Yuqi’s disheveled hair. She was not as pleased, “Dude, why me?”

“Well who else would I do it to?” 

Yuqi looked around at the rest of her options, “Fair point.”

“So, Shuhua, which do you like more, Fire or Air?” Miyeon asked.

“Yeah which one?” Minnie added.

They really like to make each other jealous huh? “What did Fire feel like again?” I kinda forgot the feeling.

“Here,” Miyeon made a fireball, “do you wanna catch it?” 

“Ooh fun,” I stood back. 

She tossed it to me, I did not catch it.

“Ahh!” I screamed in pain and I could smell my flesh burning. Miyeon took the fire off of my burning hands quickly after being shocked for a second. The others were stunned too I think, can’t really tell cause this hurts like a bitch. 

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” she apologized frantically, hovering her hands above mine unsure if she could touch them. Then Yuqi came over and tried to look, but only ended up standing very close behind me.

“Fucking ouch!” I said under my breath, as Soojin reached for my wrist. 

“You got burned,” she furrowed her eyebrows. 

Usually I would be excited at the fact Soojin was touching and talking to me but I am in pain and pain makes me say stupid things, “Obviously,” I snapped at her. 

She didn’t care and turned to Minnie, “Blow on it.” 

Minnie snapped out of her shock and began to create cool air whirls around my hands. “Ow, that hurts,” I said.

“Sorry,” she apologized. 

Miyeon was looking at her hands, I don’t think she’s ever hurt someone before. “Hey it’s fine,” I said, “look I’m not even crying.” My eyes were a little watery, but I’m definitely not crying. 

“That wasn’t supposed to happen, earlier you were resistant like the rest of us.”

Soyeon finally spoke, “I think it wore off.” 

“Huh?”

“That day you’re Fire Awoke, your Spirit abilities seemed to stop working, maybe it wears off.” She thought, “And because you ford the Air Awakening the Fire wore off right away.”

“Oh, okay great, that’s just-” Soojin touched one of my palms, “Ow, God!”

“Sorry, but I think I should start healing this, it’s pretty bad.”

“Yeah go,” Soyeon said. 

“Go whe-” Soojin took one of my arms and led me towards the river, “Oh.” 

\------------------------------

“Sit,” Soojin gestured towards the ground near the side of the steam.

“Is now a good time to say that I’m also afraid of water, and if I fall in that I will actually cry,” I said quickly. 

“But the river is not even deep, and you have 2nd degree burns and you’re not even crying.”

“Yeah, well life is weird like that sometimes.” I don't move any closer to the water. 

“Fine, sit where you’re at.” I’m only like a meter away anyway. 

I sat down facing the river and she sat directly in front of me. Have I mentioned how beautiful she is up close? She scooted closer so that our knees were touching, oh my God. “Umm-”

“Don’t.” Talk, I finished for her. “Give me your hands.” I gulped, I’m coherent enough now to realize how soft her hands are. Her eyes shone a light blue, just like the ones from that old guy who healed my head. But it definitely looks so much better on her. Water began to flow in a cylindrical twirling line towards us. Freaking awesome but also freaking scary. Soojin just tuned my biggest fear into a slithering snake. I tried to move away. “Don't be scared,” she said softly. The pure feeling of fluttering butterflies in my stomach halted my escape, and the second emotion I ever hear from Soojin is comfort. 

“Okay,” I managed to say. The water settled on top of my hands like a cold blanket, “Ah,” it hurts. 

“Give it a second,” I could tell she was trying to concentrate. And after a couple seconds the feeling of needles turned numb and cold. “Okay,” she breathed out, “now we wait.” 

“How long?”

“As long as it takes.” 

\------------------------------

It’s weird, looking at colorful glowing eyes. Green is what I’ve been seeing the most during class and practice with Ms. Kim. Yellow is how I met Soyeon. Blood orange is what I looked at this morning. And Silver I’ve only seen in brief intervals. Now, this light blue I have been entranced by for maybe 10 minutes, it's the only one that doesn’t move. Like all the others have a little swirl to them, the blue however is like ice, completely still. I guess it fit’s the person right? Soojin hasn’t looked away from the water in my hands, not even a word. Should I say something? Maybe something like ‘Hey Soojin wanna be friends’ or ‘Why don’t you like me’ or ‘You don’t have to tutor me, I have a genius sister.’

She beat me to it, “Why do you keep staring at me?”

I blushed, “Oh I umm… think your eyes are interesting.”

She tilted her head (So freaking cute, you don’t understand). “My eyes?”

“They're like ice, still swirlies, but not moving,” I moved my head from side to side because I couldn't move my hands. “Everyone else’s eyes move, yours don’t, I thought it was interesting.” 

She thought for a moment, “Your eyes don’t move.”

“Huh?”

“Your eyes are still, but their flat, not swirls.” I don’t even know when she had the opportunity to know that. 

“Oh, weird.” 

That was the end of the conversion for her. And I started to stare again but more just at her and not her eyes. She has a cute nose, kind of like Yuqi’s but slightly flatter. She’s wearing makeup, and since it’s the weekend she painted her lips red, it makes them stand out, would it be weird to say that I want to kiss her? Nope, I should look away. Under her left eye she has a beauty mark, it fits her. During the walk here her hair was down as usual, long and dark brown. But now it’s tied into a bun, she must have been hot, she is hot (Shut up). 

“You keep looking at me.” 

“I can’t help it.” 

“You said that before.”

“It’s still true.” 

“I don't get it,” she sighed. “You don’t even know me, and I’ve done nothing but ignore you, why do you still like me.” 

“Remember when I said I could read someone upon a glance.” 

“You mean..” she blushed. 

“Your aura was breathtaking,” I thought back to the feeling, “You radiate warmth and kindness. And it’s freaking annoying I only felt it once.” 

She shuddered slightly, “You’re wrong.” 

“What?”

“I am neither warm, nor kind. You’re lying.” 

“I wouldn’t lie about that,” I’m kinda offended at the accusation for her.

“Then it must've been the person behind me,” she insisted. “Stop liking me.” 

“Do you think I haven’t been trying? I can tell you don’t like me back, but for some reason I just can't shake the impulse,” I slouched in defeat. 

“I have no reason to like you, but-” she stopped herself.

“But what?” I said hopefully.

She sighed and said so quietly I almost couldn’t hear, “I don’t get why I do.” You do? You do!? But why is she acting like it’s a bad thing?

“I-”

“I shouldn’t like you.” She shook her head, “I’m not supposed to.”

“What do you mean?” 

She wanted to answer me, she was showing all of her emotions now. She furrowed her eyebrows in maybe sadness. She looked down, “It’s done.” 

“Huh?”

“Your burns, they’re healed,” she returned the water and quickly got up to leave. 

I grabbed her wrist, “Wait, you can’t just leave.”

She looked at my hand for a second, but then said, “I’m sorry,” she forced me to let go and walked away back to the clearing. I stared at her retreating figure.

What the fuck now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have figured out the order of the povs you should know who's next.  
> Also, heads up, things get very messy very soon.


	7. I Spy a Spy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're reading this in the present, remember when Yuqi said her birthday is a week away, I meant month away, sometimes I'm dumb and think August is September.  
> Also this time is the new upload time, because I didn't have one before and I feel like being sightly professional.

Minnie.

* * *

“It's been a week, nothing’s happened, I guess you’re gonna just be my half-Air sister forever Shu,” I said to the mopey child in front of me. 

“Nah Water-power is gonna come, it took Fire a month,” Yuqi said with a full mouth of whatever crunchy stuff she put in her frozen yogurt. She swallowed, “Don’t be sad yet.”

“I don't give a damn about Water,” she huffed.

“Ooh how does that make you feel, Soojin?” Yuqi teased the girl to my right. 

“Ecstatic,” she deadpanned, not even looking up from her phone to answer. 

“Come on you’re not even gonna defend your element.”

“I bet she’s actually offended,” Shuhua scoffed. “She’ll just never tell you.”

“Nah, I don’t think she cares,” Yuqi sighed. Shuhua rolled her eyes, and went back to eating. Soojin glanced for the smallest fraction of a second, probably only getting the view of chocolate entering Shuhua's mouth.

It’s been like this ever since Soojin healed Shuhua. They obviously did the opposite of talk their emotions out or something because Shuhua seems to hate Soojin even more than Soojin hates Shuhua. It got even worse after the second tutoring session. Shuhua’s behavior is very very surprising considering the way she was all googly eyed before. The tension between the two is suffocating, where’s my noddle when I need her. 

“Okay, you get the blue spoon, I’ll get the pink one,” ah there she is, and with froyo too! 

“Thank you so much,” I sighed and scooter closer to Soojin to make space in the booth. Miyeon sat and I whispered to her, “Those 2 are gonna kill each other any second now,” she giggled.

Suddenly there was a slam of tiny, pointy, hands on the table. “You two,” Soyeon pointed between Shuhua and Soojin, “What the hell is wrong with y’all.” It was more of a demand than a question. 

Shuhua looked annoyed, “Nothing’s wrong, I’ve just realized that she’s a bitch is all,” she shrugged. I felt Soojin slightly twitch when she said it. Maybe she does have feelings.

Yuqi gasped, “I told you not to say that in front of her,” she scolded with an attempt at a whisper.

“Soojin is not a bitch,” Miyeon said defensively, “she’s a sweetheart.” Shuhua ignored her, and continued to munch on the chocolate pieces in her cup. 

Yuqi raised her eyebrows, “Are you sure about that, I’ve literally never seen her do anything nice.” 

“She made your girlfriend’s meals for 5 years,” Miyeon rebutted.

Yuqi’s jaw dropped slightly, “Huh, never thought about that.” She looked up to Soyeon, “Does she still make you anything?”

Soyeon shrugged, “Breakfast.”

Yuqi pouted, “I’ll make you breakfast.” 

“You can cook?”

“I can learn,” she made puppy-dog eyes. 

Soyeon smiled, “you’re cute,” she sat down next to her and pat her schedule, “but Soojin is like my personal chef and I can’t just let that go.” She looked at Miyeon, “Also she’s been cooking for me since forever.” 

Yuqi gasped, “Come on.”

“Anyway, now that we’ve established that Soojin isn’t a bitch and that Yuqi will never be enough, can you tell us why we’re here,” I said. 

Yuqi narrowed her eyes at me, “Hey I am-”

“I wanted to sort out that mess,” Soyeon nodded toward Shuhua who was glaring at the wall and Soojin who was scrolling through her phone. “Also Mina already reserved the Heart, so froyo was the next best place,” she smiled. 

“So what’s the plan to get them to stop hating each other,” Yuqi whispered. 

“We can hear you dumb ass,” Shuhua said. 

Yuqi grabbed Shuhua’s head and put her hands over her ears, “So what’s the plan?” she whispers again.

“Oh my God,” Shuhua shoved Yuqi off and stood on the table. 

“What are you-”

“Ma'am, you can’t stand on the tables,” an employee said. 

“Getting off,” she said and jumped. “I’m going to sit outside,” she reached for her froyo, not without sparing a glance towards Soojin, “I can’t stand some of you,” she hit Yuqi in the head with her froyo as she brought it back to herself. And she left. 

“This is unnecessary,” Soojin said after I heard the door close. 

“It’s because of you that she’s like that,” Soyeon said. 

“Yeah just admit that you like her and let both of you be happy,” Miyeon added. Wait what?

“You like Shuhua!?” Yuqi and I asked in disbelief. That’s impossible. 

She blushed, “No, I do not.” She asserted. 

“Oh my God, she’s blushing,” Yuqi put her hands on her head like her brain was having malfunction, “I didn’t know the Ice Queen could blush.”

“She does all the time actually.” Soyeon said. 

“No way.”

“Yes way,” Miyeon said, “isn’t she just so adorable.” 

“Wait but do you actually like Shuhua?” I asked again. She didn’t answer. 

“Just say it, Jin,” Soyeon sighed. 

Soojin glared at her. But then after a few moments she confessed, “Fine, I might have some romantic attraction towards…” She looked away from us, “Shuhua.” 

“Finally,” Miyeon smiled, “It’s been pretty obvious ever since last week.” She smirked, “All those glances you keep stealing.” Soojin blushed again. “Must have been the fact that you held hands for like 10 minutes.”

“Actually, ever since the first day, Soojin has been-” Soyeon started. 

“Do not.” Soojin interrupted. 

“What!?” Yuqi said, “since the first day!” Soojin covered under her voice. 

“Say’s the girl who crushed on Soyeon for almost a year,” Miyeon chuckled. 

“Hey! I didn’t know I liked her, she…” she pointed at Soojin, “... obviously knows about her crush.” She crossed her arms. 

“You didn’t know?” Soyeon giggled, “even I knew.” 

“You did!?” She pouted, “Why didn’t you tell me?” 

My phone buzzed, and one look at the caller ID and everything else froze. “Oh no,” I breathed. 

“What is it?” Miyeon asked. 

“Oh, it’s just my brother,” I lied, “he’s been… having some trouble with our social worker,” I just need to take this call,” I stammered out quickly while Miyeon got up to let me leave, “I’ll be right back.” And I headed to the bathroom successfully avoiding Miyeon’s concerned eyes. 

I answered the call, but it took me a few moments to compose myself, “Hello, Mr. Choi, what's the matter?”

\------------------------------

“And remember if you tell anyone, especially Miyeon, I promise that you will never see her again, am I clear?” a deep and intimidating voice sounded.

“Yes sir.”

“Good, now do I need to repeat any instruction for you?”

“No sir.”

“Great, I will keep in contact until further notice.”

“Yes s-” he hung up. 

I opened my stall and faced my reflection. What the fuck am I supposed to do now? For one thing I am definitely screwed. “Ugh,” I groaned and dipped my head towards the sink. 

“Are you okay?” a silent voice hesitantly asked.

I looked up to her reflection, “You bitch,” I said discuss. I turned around to face her. “You knew about this and didn’t tell any of us.” 

She scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, “I don't know what you’re talking about.”

I scoffed, “Oh really?” I started to walk toward her, “Then why did Miyeon’s dad just tell me to report to you if I had any questions?”

She went wide eyed, “I… I-” 

I had her against the wall now, “Save it,” I shook my head, “and I actually believed all that shit about you being a sweetheart and liking Shuhua,” she gulped, “It was all just a show for their scheme, right?” I backed away, “Fuck you Soojin.” And I left back to the main room. 

Miyeon made eye contact with me, and immediately sensed my steam, “Hey something wrong?” She stood and took my arms in her hands. 

“It’s nothing.” I dismissed it, although I guess I was pretty unconvincing considering the way Miyeon is hugging me now. 

“You can tell me anything, you know that right?” 

I nodded and hugged back. “It’s…” My mind flooded with what Mr. Choi said; ‘And remember if you tell anyone, especially Miyeon, I promise that you will never see her again…’ I can’t tell her. “It’s just Mack, he got kicked out again,” I sighed and tightened my hold around her waist. 

“What a troublemaker.”

“Tell me about it,” I chuckled. No, I can’t let her go. 

“Yuqi if you call me tiny one more time I am going to break up with you!”

“But you’re just so cute and… pft tiny.” Miyeon chuckled and broke the hug to witness the rest of this. 

“That’s it I’m going to go outside with Shuhua,” and there she goes. 

“Did I say something wrong?” Yuqi asked us. Seriously?

“No Yuqi, you said everything right,” Miyeon patted her back and led her outside as well. I watched them leave. 

“We should talk later,” Soojin came up from behind me. 

“You’re room, during dinner.”

“Okay.”

“And you better tell me everything.”

“Okay.” 

“Okay.” I sighed, “let’s go, they're probably waiting for us.” I walked away leaving her to follow. We have a lot to talk about. 

\------------------------------

“Soyeon have you ever met a dog with a really mean aura?” Shuhua asked while sitting on the ground in the arcade, leaning against Yuqi’s race car.

“Nope, but then again I’m allergic so I try to stay away from dogs,” she shrugged from the next race car. 

Shuhua gasped, “That’s terrible, you’ll never meet Haku.”

“Who’s Haku?” Miyeon asked from behind my race car.

“Just the best dog in the whole wide world,” Shuhua said cutely.

“I can still meet him, my allergy isn’t that bad.” Soyeon said, “Plus whenever I visit the Land of the Dead I can play with those dogs, they’re all spirits so no fur, can’t pet them though.”

“There are dogs in the Land of the Dead!” Shuhua shot up and put her fist together like she was making a wish, “Take me, please Soyeon, please.”

“Only really advanced Spirits can do that,” I said while swerving in front of Yuqi in the race. Haha, take that. I think I hear her grunt. 

“Aww man,” Shuhua pouted. 

Miyeon went up to her and said, “You’re so cute.” She tried to squish her creaks but Shuhua sweated her hands away. She’s gotta stop calling her cute or I swear I will- 

“Yes!” Yuqi shouted. “I won you loss!” she shouted over the other girls heads. 

“Fuck, I got distracted,” I said under my breath.

“Oh is the little mouse mad,” Miyeon teased me. 

“Am not.” I huffed. 

Miyeon laughed, “sure, you big baby,” she put her arm over me. This is nice, I won't tell her that though. 

“I seriously don’t understand how y’all pretended to hate each other,” Yuqi interrupted. I narrowed my eyes at her, she got intimidated, “Anyways, Shu, did you know that Soyeonie can take other people back to the 1st dimension because we live there.”

“Whoa really?” she beamed, Soyeon nodded. Shuhua then turned around to glance at Yuqi, “I have a great idea for the perfect time when you can meet my Haku.” She held out her hand for Soyeon to take so she could get out of her car easier and she smiled and took it gladly. Shu put her arm over Soyeon and they walked away with Shuhua whispering something in her ear and Soyeon giggling. 

The look on Yuqi’s face was priceless, I tried not to laugh, “You good, Qi?”

“She just- They just- Oh come on!”

Miyeon did her loud laugh, the one where her head rolls back, “You’re fine, Shuhua just stole her heart for a while.”

Yuqi whined, “Don’t say it like that.” Miyeon laughed again. I love that laugh. 

“Here,” Soojin came from around the corner where the other two went. She gave Yuqi a tiny giraffe plushie. 

Yuqi gasped, “Oh my God it’s so cute, look,” she leaped out of her car and leaned on the one Soyeon was in so she could reach across to us, “It’s so tiny he doesn't even have a neck,” she giggled. 

Not that impressive, “I think Soyeon should be jealous of giraffes instead of you being jealous of Shuhua,” I snatched the giraffe from her hand and handed it to Miyeon. 

“Yeah just look at how this little thing distracted you from her,” she threw the giraffe back at Yuqi, she caught it. “Shuhua’s harmless.” I don't think so. 

“She is not harmless,” Yuqi said and smiled at me, “Just look at the way Miyeon is whipped for her cuteness.”

“You little shit,” I narrowed my eyes at her again.

“Ha, ha” she laughed nervously and backed away from the car and behind Soojin, “Soojin save me,” she used her as a shield. 

I got out of my car and up to Soojin, “You’re a real shit you know that,” Soojin paled.

“Babe,” I hear Miyeon scold. 

“... Yuqi. Seriously you gotta use the Ice Queen to protect you,” I looked at Yuqi this time. 

“Umm…” I must have caused some tension. Yuqi whisper-shouted, “Miyeon help me.” 

“What are you doing?” Miyeon put a hand on my shoulder, “On the way over here you wouldn’t even look at Soojin, and don’t think I didn’t see you glare her away from us when we got here.” 

I looked at her, “It’s just, ugh,” I rolled my eyes, “I’m just annoyed at the way she ignores everyone, especially Shuhua.” 

“Well if you stopped being all scary, maybe she would open up,” she crossed her arms. 

“Guys it’s fine, I-”

“Why is this my fault, she’s the one who acts all cold.”

“I can try to-”

“Says the one who’s trying to intimidate her.”

“I am not!” 

“Are to!”

“Well I should be intimidating her considering…” wait I can’t say it. “Considering the fact that she’s your best friend?”

“Huh?” Soojin asked. 

“What? I don’t get it,” Miyeon said.

“Umm, you see, you're my girlfriend right?” Miyeon nodded. “And she’s your best friend right?” she nodded again. “Well don’t you think it’s polite for us to at least be acquaintances? I mean seriously we sit next to each other in the cafeteria but she doesn't even try to talk to me.” I whined, “Maybe I’m just jealous that you and Soyeon get all her attention.”

“This is the first time you’re admitting you’re jealous after all the years of us being together, and it's when you’re jealous of me not for me?” She emphasized the ‘of’ and ‘for’.

“Uhh, yes?”

“Why is that a question?”

“Should it not be?”

“I don’t know, should it?”

“Well I was trying to save myself from your wrath, and phrasing it as a question seemed like the best option.”

“You’re so…” she made a motion as if trying to squeeze me through the air, “you know what, never mind.” She sighed, “You two need to sort out your differences, I can’t have my two favorite people hating each other, now can I?” She smirked, “When we get back, you two are gonna have a nice ol' chat.”

“We can talk during dinner,” I suggested, this makes it easier than lying to her more than I already have to. 

“Ooh what a great idea,” she’s no longer mad. “Soojin you can make her dinner right because Minnie can’t….” she glanced at me. “Because you’re just such a great cook.” Was that an insult to my cooking? “I will come too.”

“No!” Soojin and I said immediately. 

She eyed us weirdly, “What do you mean ‘no’?”

“We mean… umm-”

“It’s better for us to get close on our own. And we don’t want Minnie to be a third wheel.” How am I the third wheel in this situation?

“Hmm, true.” Miyeon thought, “You guys can figure it out alone then.” 

“Good” Soojin nodded, well at least she’s better at this whole lying thing than me. 

“Wait, my girlfriend is Soojin’s other best friend, shouldn’t I come too?” Yuqi piped in from behind Soojin. 

I stared at her for a moment, contemplating, “No.”

“But I-”

“Not gonna happen.” I walked away back into one of the cars.

“Oh come on, please.”

“If you get second place I’ll let you come.”

She hopped into the car she was in before, “Easy.”

\------------------------------

Anyway Yuqi obviously won the race because she has too much pride to get second place, plus Soyeon and Shuhua came back in the middle of the race and she quote, ‘Just couldn’t lose in front of my girl’. So that’s how I ended up here, in Soojin’s dorm room, alone, waiting for her to bring whatever she made for dinner. I’ve never been in a Water dorm room before, it’s less blue and more white than I expected. She even has her own two-seat table, perks of being a Class representative I guess, you have extra space. How did that even happen? I doubt she ever even talks to her Class-mates enough for them to vote her representative. Then again she is their Queen or whatever, so who am I to judge? 

There’s a knock at the door, then after a few seconds Soojin comes in with a plastic bag in her left hand and a couple vending machine sodas in her right hand. “You didn’t need to knock, this is your room you know.”

“Oh,” she closes the door, “sorry.” I’m not sure ‘sorry’ is the correct response to that but whatever. 

“Are you just gonna stand there, or…” She was just standing by the door, looking at the table. 

“Oh,” she comes to set down the food and sit at the table with me, “sorry.” Again with the ‘sorry’, what’s with her?

I leaned on my elbows, “Why are you so nervous?” I asked curiously, but it probably came out more in a taunting sort of way considering she’s fumbling to untie the bag.

“I… umm… I’m not usually alone with people,” she sets down the two plastic tins and sets the plastic on the floor.

“Don’t you usually eat alone with Soyeon?” I opened my tin, hmm pasta, white sauce.

“She’s different.”

“Why?” she opens hers too.

“She’s… I’ve known her for a long time.”

“And Miyeon?”

“I’ve known her for a long time too.”

“Do either of them know about your double life?”

She fumbled with her fork, “No.” That’s a relief. “But it’s not a ‘double life’?”

“Oh really?” I let out a single laugh, “What else should I call it when someone keeps secrets about their friends' parents and literally spies on all of us?”

She scrunched her eyebrows, “It’s not spying.”

“Then what is it.”

“Reporting.”

“That’s the same thing when you're doing it like you’re doing it.”

“How’s that?”

“In secret.” Doesn't she get it? “Also you’re probably the best liar I’ve ever seen, you go around acting like you’re just as oblivious as the rest of us, when really you’re the only one who knows the truth.”

She sighed and let go of her fork, “What else was I supposed to do?”

“Tell us, so that we could try to stop them.”

“Do you even know the severity of this situation?”

“Yes, Mr. Choi said that Shuhua was a very special Elemental and that you and I are supposed to report on the progress of her powers.” She waited for me to continue. “He said that she can be a danger to herself and the people around her and that we should ‘take her to him and Mrs. Seo when the time is right’. Which is literally just code for ‘kidnap her for me even though we have nothing to do with her’.”

“He didn’t tell you everything.”

“What do you mean?”

“Why do you think Shuhua’s so ‘special’?” 

“Because she… because… I don’t know she probably got really lucky in the gene department.”

“It’s because they are the ones who did it to her.”

“What?” I tilted my head. What does that even mean?

“8 years ago Shuhua’s parents, Miyeon’s parents, and Yuqi’s parents funded my mom’s project.” She lowered her voice, “My mother wanted to create the perfect Elemental, one who could posses all 5 elements. She figured out which gene is responsible for each element by studying herself, Yuqi’s Earth mom and Spirit Dad, Miyeon’s Fire father and Air mother. It took her 3 years to figure out how to extract their cells with the genes and insert them into a new host.”

“Oh my God,” I gasped, “Did she… to Shuhua… did-”

“No, the first person they tried it on was her older sister, Meiling.”

“Oh, what happened?”

“Well when they tried it she was already 15, but they figured it wouldn’t matter. Except it did. After the operation Meiling was in a coma for 5 days, and when she woke up nothing had changed. If you could see the furious look on everyone's faces after that meeting,” she shook her head. “But my mother wasn’t worried, she said that there were 3 things wrong with the experiment. 1) The age of the patient; they had to be under 13. 2) There had to be separate operations for each element. And 3) Directly after each operation you need to subject the patient to each element. I never really got what that last one meant, because my mother never told me, but after what Shuhua told me about her parents,” she frowned, “I think they did more than give her a rock and a candle to hold.” She sighed, “Anyway after that Yuqi’s parents were angry for a different reason then everyone else, they didn’t like that they were subjecting kids to coma and pain, they dropped out. But my mother already had their DNA, she didn't need them anymore. It took almost a year for each of Shuhua’s operations, all they had to do now was wait for her to turn 13, and let her powers Awake. But then, she disappeared, well not to us, the Jong’s said that she had died, that all their daughters had died. Apparently, that was a lie. When Shuhua showed up to this school, the headmaster called my mom to tell her a 16 year old with weird eyes was wandering the halls. I guess she has people in all the places. The second I saw her she reminded me of Meiling, they look so much alike. My mother asked me to keep an eye on her, I did, and when Soyeon said those things about feeling all the elements in her I was certain that her name wasn’t a coincidence and that this was the same Shuhua my mother has ranted about for 4 years as a ‘missed opportunity’, the same Shuhua who she thought had died. She was ecstatic, and she was angry at the Jong’s for keeping her a secret. And when I told her that it was Yuqi’s parents who helped her escape, she got even angrier. Now, all she wants is for Shuhua’s power to all unlock so that she can rub it in their faces and she… “ she hesitated.

“She what, Soojin?” 

She looked at me apologetically, “She wants to take away Shuhua’s powers and put them in me.”

“What!?” I stood up, “Is that why you’ve been going along with her plans, because you want to be all powerful.

She shook her head and hands in denial and stood, “No, no, my mom is obsessed, I can’t just let her down, and telling you guys about this won’t change anything, there’s no way we can stop her.”

“How so?” I crossed my arms. 

“I’m just the test dummy, if it works she’ll do the same thing to herself and Mr. Choi and Miyeon, Ms. Choi already backed out for some reason.” 

“Miyeon?” 

“Yeah, Mr. Choi said that it’s only fair if it works on me, and then and probably a bunch more of her associates, like the headmaster, they want to, she wants to… “

“Just spit it out already.”

“She wants to control the Elemental world, by doing so she will be able to force the grand council to allow that Elementals use their powers freely in Universe 1. And then she thinks she can ‘take over the world’, as she put it.”

“She’s crazy,” I said. 

“I know,” she slumped back down into her chair. This whole thing is a lot shitier than I though it was. 

“Are you sure there’s nothing we can do to stop her.” 

“Ugh, don’t you think I’ve tried?” She put her hands on her head. “Every time I try to reason with her, every time I tell her she’s out of her mind, all she does is laugh like I’m telling the funniest joke she’s ever heard. I don’t know what to do. I’ve already stopped telling her anything significant after I mentioned Shuhua used Fire.”

“You haven't?” Okay so maybe she’s not too much of a bitch. 

“Yeah, all I’ve said is that she’s still training in Fire, nothing about Air, not like that means anything though, she’ll find out somehow.” She chuckled sadly, “That’s probably why they resorted to you, she doesn't trust me anymore.” 

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Then what do we do now?”

“I have no idea.”

I sat back down in front of her. I’ve never seen her so emotional, all slumped down with terrible posture, legs wide open, and a visible frown on her face. It’s kinda refreshing to know she is in fact human and not a robot, or I guess Ice Queen. 

We sat in silence for maybe 15 minutes, neither of us touching our food, it’s definitely cold by now anyway. This is awkward again. Should I say something? She’s just sitting there all depressed-like. I mean the impending doom of the world does seem to do that to people. Ugh, this is annoying. We should start a revolution or something, to overthrow all the rich and terrible parents. Hmm maybe I should count myself lucky considering I don’t have any parents. Oh well, then there’s Yuqi’s parents, I’ve only heard nice things, except for the part where they funded the experimentation of Elementals. But you know, I think saving patient 0 and 1 was a good redemption enough. Oh my God, Yuqi’s parents! “Hey!”

She got startled, “Huh?”

“Yuqi’s parents,” I said like she would understand everything. 

“What?”

“They can help us.” She tilted her head. I rolled my eyes, “They can help us stop you mom,” I declared. 

She narrowed her eyes at me, “You mean…?”

“That’s exactly what I mean.”

“I don’t think-”

“Oh come on, shouldn’t we at least try?”

“But how about everyone else, Miyeon, Soyeon, even Yuqi.”

I thought for a second, “We have to tell them.” If it woks out, I'll still be able to be with Miyeon. We have to make it work.

Her eyes widened, “But they’ll hate me,” she shook her head. “No, that shouldn’t matter.” She looked like she was fighting with her thoughts, she let it slip silently, “But Shuhua…” she said subconsiously.

“Wait a second.”

“Huh?”

“You actually like Shuhua?” I’m still skeptical about that.

She blushed, “I liked her before I know about her powers, if that’s any consolation.”

“But that means the literal first day.”

She got even more red and she turned away from me, as if that was going to hide her embarrassment. “I guess it does, haven't we already been over this?”

“And you haven’t told her!” She is so dumb. “Shuhua’s been crushing on you hardcore, if you haven't noticed, which would be literally impossible considering everybody knows.”

She frowned, “I did tell her.” 

“What?” I sighed, “Did she… reject you?” I said carefully. 

“No,” she groaned. “I rejected her.”

“Let me get this straight you confessed to her, and then you rejected her,” I sighed, “And I thought Miyeon was the Queen of mixed signals.” 

“Well what else was I supposed to do, I couldn't keep it in and she was staring at me with those cute pretty eyes and saying stuff like ‘I can’t help it’ when referring to liking me. But there’s no way we can be together. My mother literally wants to kill her and I’ve been spying on her like a creep.” She pouted, “There is now way she’ll like me after she knows what I know and what I’ve been doing.” She’s on the brink of tears.

I reached for her hand, “Hey, once Mr. Choi finds out that I told Miyeon he's gonna wanna murder me,” I smiled, “Although I think he already does.” 

She chuckled, “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

“That is what that smile means isn’t it?”

“Thanks, but that doesn't change the fact that Shuhua already hates me for what I said during our tutoring session.”

“What did you say?”

“I told her I thought she was annoying and that she should just stop trying to talk to me.”

“Wow, you’re brutal. Did you say that in you’re ‘I don’t give a fuck about anyone but myself’ voice too?”

She winced, “that’s one way to put it,” she laid her forehead on the table in defeat. 

“I think you should ask her out.”

“Are you crazy?” her voice came out muffled from the table. 

“No you are, for being such a fake.” 

She lifted her head to look at me, “What?”

“You act like so distant to everyone, literally in the past half hour I have gotten to know you better than hanging out with you for the past week. All because you weren’t acting cold.” 

“I don’t get how this has anything to do with Shuhua,” she’s trying to avoid the topic. 

“What I’m saying is maybe if you stop being the Ice Queen and start being the Luke-warm Water Queen, you might actually have more than 2 friends.”

“There’s nothing wrong about only having 2 friends.”

“It is when you have there’s at least 3 more patiently waiting for you.” 

“Patient, isn’t what I would call Yuqi asking me a million questions every 5 minutes.” 

“It is, with her.”

She chuckled, “I guess.”

There were a couple moments of comfortable silence when suddenly I got an idea. “You should do it right now.”

“What?”

“There’s still,” I checked my phone, “15 minutes left of dinner, if we’re fast enough, we’ll make it in time for 10.” I grabbed her hand. 

She shook her head frantically, “I don’t think-”

“Shush, and just follow my lead.” I yanked her out of her seat and through the door. All against numerous protests.

“Wait! Hey!”

\------------------------------

“Y’all seem friendly,” Yuqi said while looking at our linked hands.

“Oh,” Soojin let go of me, embarrassed. I find this particularly funny considering she was squeezing my hand tight the second I pulled her into the cafeteria. She’s a little nervous.

“Ha yeah, we’re partners in crime now,” It was a joke but Soojin nudged me in the side, didn’t find it funny, I see. “Ow, I told you we’re here to make you seem approachable, not scary.”

Miyeon stood up, “Oh I knew my plan would work!” she grabbed both of us in a strangle. “You guys are friends now.” She let go and and Soojin and I let out gasps for breath. 

“Yeah yeah, anyways Shuhua,” I said quickly, “I checked and Soojin isn’t a bitch, she’s simply misunderstood.” I snapped, “Cool?”

She looked at me funny, “I already knew that, I don’t actually think she’s a bitch.”

“Of course I understand, you think she’s terrible it’s okay she’s… wait… what did you say?”

“She’s not a bitch,” she chuckled, “I was just annoyed, I know she doesn't like me like me, like I like her like her. She was just trying to tell me she wants to be friends and not send the wrong message. I was acting childish because I was sad about it all,” she shrugged. 

We all looked at her confused because of two things, 1) Shuhua’s not dumb, and 2) Shuhua’s dumb. I leaned into Soojin’s ear, “I thought you said you confessed,” I whispered and created an air cloud so the rest couldn’t hear us. Soojin realized and turned to face me. 

“Maybe I wasn't direct enough?” 

“Ugh, just tell her.”

“But maybe this is better, at least she won’t hate me as much when we tell her the truth.”

“I don’t think you realized exactly who your crush is,” I pointed to her, “I mean did you hear her earlier, I think she'll understand.”

We turned to face her. She was sitting in her chair, probably asking Yuqi what’s happening. And now she’s blushing because we’re staring at her. I glanced over to Miyeon who gave me her ‘What the heck are you doing face?’ I just shrugged. And Soyeon is working on homework, ignoring everything that’s happening. Oh, to be so calm. Speaking of calm, everybody is staring at us, or probably me because we’re not supposed to use our gifts in the cafeteria but my eyes are clearly glowing, and Soojin and I are clearly emitting a wind, that is blowing in Miyeon’s face just the right way, wow. She should be a model, like literally I’ve never seen a more beautiful person to have ever existed. Shoot, I’m getting distracted, “Soojin we should-” Oh my my, what do we have here? Soojin staring at Shuhua like I was just staring at Miyeon, I ship it, probably because Shuhua is looking back the same way. 

“I’ll do it,” she said suddenly.

“Huh?”

“Just get us out of your air bubble,” she snapped impatiently.

“I prefer ‘Capsule of Silence’, but sure,” I broke the air bubble. 

She walked up to the table, right on the opposite side of Shuhua. Oh I get it now. “Hi,” she said shyly.

“Umm... uhh... I…,” She stood up quickly, “Hi!” Shuhua said in a voice so high, it resembles a dolphin. Soojin winced a little, but so did everyone else. “Sorry,” she scratched the back of her head, “I don’t know what’s happening.” 

“You’re cute,” Soojin said. 

If Shuhua could bush more, she did. “Well I mean yeah sometimes, but usually people tell me I have a chic kind of video. But Miyeon calls me cute all the time, and I try to stop her, because it ruins my image. But not that you can’t call me cute, call me cute whenever you want, I like it. Not like, like like it, but like, and average amount of likes, you know? Even though I think you’re probably cuter. Not that you’re not you’re not beautify, God you are so beautiful. You’re both. For example, Yuqi is just cute not-” Yuqi hit her in the back, “Ow.” She realized she was rambling and looked down. Coincidentally, very cutely. 

Soojin giggled, I thought I’d never hear the day. Shuhua’s eye’s shot right up. Then to my surprise Soojin said confidently, “Will you go on a date with me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh what do you think she'll say? 
> 
> See y'all tomorrow :)


	8. First date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Future peoples ignore this:
> 
> Update for chap 9: I just re-read what I wrote for 9 and I don't like it. So I'm going to change it. That means there's no update today, but I'll try to speed write ig. Anyway, I'm not sure when I'll update next, but definitely before the weekend ends. Sorry peoples, but I do like most of chap 10 so I'll just do 12 hr update instead of 24, coolio? Then I'll do the last two a week after that because suspense is key...

Soojin.

* * *

“What?”

“Will you go on a date with me?” I repeated.

“Oh my God, I wasn't hallucinating,” she breathed out. 

“Do you want me to ask again or…”

“Please.”

I smiled, “Will you go on a date with me, Shuhua?”

“Yes,” she said the millisecond I finished. 

“Good.”

“Very,” she nodded.

\------------------------------

“No, not orange, next,” Miyeon said. 

“What, what’s wrong with the orange one?” I threw my favorite orange dress on my bed.

“It’s too… “ Minnie lifted her shoulders, “I don’t know I just don’t like orange on you.” 

“Fine then, how about this one,” I pulled out a fitted white off-the-shoulder top.

“Definitely not,” Miyeon said. 

“Yeah, we don’t want Shu to die any time soon,” Minnie smirked. 

I blushed, “Ugh, why don’t you just pick, this is taking forever,” I sat down at the foot of my bed so I could stop facing them. 

I felt them jump off behind me, “Let’s see here,” Miyeon began to rummage through my closet. “No, no, absolutely not, no, no,” She was saying under her breath. “No, wait, this one!”

“Let me see first!” Minnie stood in front of her to block my view. 

Their squealing and whispering about something. I mean, it’s not like I care what they're talking about, I can wait. I have patience, it’s not like I need to leave in less than an hour, for my date, with Shuhua. Yeah, this is totally fine, let them have their fun fantasizing about what is going to happen on my date, with Shuhua. I wonder what they choose for them to be so riled up about my date, with Shuhua. It’s not like I wanna know what I’m wearing on my date, with Shuhua. “Oh my God, just show me already,” I grumbled. 

“Someone’s eager,” Miyeon cooed. Minnie chuckled. 

I stood and glared at her, “What is it?”

She pulled out my blue and white, vertically striped, short, spaghetti strap top. “I thought you said not too showy.” 

“We changed our minds, plus this one has straps so like technically it’s less showy,” Minnie said. 

“Okay fine, I can work with this,” I stepped in my closet to look for pants. The top is short but I want to tuck it in so… ah, these, some high waisted blackish-grey jeans. Now all I need is-

“Ooh you should add a belt,” Miyeon said. 

“I know,” I said quietly because I’m thinking of where I put that dark brown belt- Ah ha! “Found it.” I can add accessories later.

“Perfect, now hurry up and change I want to make your hair all wavy,” Minnie made her hands do the wave. 

\------------------------------

I asked Shuhua out yesterday, in front of everybody, and it’s maybe been 22 hour since then. There’s a few things I did not consider when asking her out, 1) The fact that people would be asking her a million questions afterwards, 2) The fact that people are too scared to talk to me so I was asked no questions, 3) The fact that that would mean that I wasn’t able to talk to her, 4) The fact that she would texted me last night saying that she would be free today after she finishes her homework that she hasn’t done yet, because she procrastinates, and 5) The fact that all I would able to text back is ‘sure, how about 7, dinner?’ and ‘Goodnight’. I doubt that makes me seem as eager as I actually am. She replied with a sleeping baby wolf sticker. I may or may not admit that I haven’t slept since then. I can’t tell if I’m excited or nervous, but maybe the sight of me staring at the stairs, instead of going down them, could be an indication to that truth. I glance at my phone, ‘6:52’, is it still too early? 

“Are you just gonna stand there, or are you gonna go down,” a voice startled me. 

I turned around, “Minnie!” I hit her, “I could have fallen.” She laughed. 

“Come on, lets go,” Miyeon said, “I knew you wouldn’t get past this point.” 

I can’t even think of a way to respond to that because my mind is going over the dinner reservations, and the walk on the way there, and the way back, and just how pretty Shuhua is, and the speech I made to tell her about the plan to take over the world by using her powers that I’ve known about for 3 weeks but haven’t told her because I’m stupid and terrified of confrontation, and-

“We’re here,” Minnie smiled happily. We’re standing in front of her dorm room. Scratch that, I’m standing in front of her dorm room, they abandoned me, opting for peeking at me from the end of the hall. I can hear Yuqi talking inside about first-date etiquette, and I also hear Soyeon denying all of her claims. Shuhua is telling them to ‘shut up’.

Okay deep breath, I can do this. I knock on the door twice. Everything goes silent inside and I can hear shuffling and angered whispers. A few seconds later and the door opens slightly. Not who I was expecting, “Hello Soyeon.”

“Hi, she’ll be out in a sec,” she smiled widely and closed the door behind her. “Are you excited?”

“I can’t tell.”

“Then you probably are, it’s not like you’ve ever been excited before.”

“I have,” I said defensively. 

“Well whatever emotion you have going on there it feels new for you,” she patted my arm and left toward the other 2 girls.

Do I knock again or… it opens, again I feel disappointment. “Hi Yuqi,” I sighed. 

“Hiya, she’s just putting on her shoes,” I nodded. We stood there awkwardly, but I can tell that my patience is currently much better than the girl in front of me. “Ugh, what is taking her so long.”

“It’s only been like 2-”

“Just wait for her inside,” she took my wrist and opened the door.

“I don’t think she would-” I tried to hold myself back, but she was stronger, and suddenly I was facing the door but from the other side. 

“Hi.” the smallest voice said. I turned around. There she was, standing in the middle of her room, in all her glory, wearing a white knee-length dress that hugged her waist then flowed freely down. I must have been staring, “Do you like it?” she giggled and tugged on the sides to present it’s flowy nature. I nodded, “Good, it took freaking forever to pick it out.” She smiled, “You look pretty too, I like your hair like that.”

“Thank you,” I blushed. We smiled at each other. I like this feeling, “Let’s go,” I held out my hand for her to take. Her smile widened and she took my hand, soft, much softer than when they were burned. I opened the door and we walked out heading towards the stairs. I guess the dummies didn’t realize we would be going this way, even though it’s the only way, because I could hear them stomping their way frantically upstairs as we rounded the corner. 

We passed a couple of younger girls on our way down, they looked at us weird but I really couldn’t care less. I, Seo Soojin, was holding Yeh Shuhua’s hand, and she was holding mine. 

\------------------------------

The walk to the restaurant is only about 15 minutes away from the school on the single path that leads to the small town. We’re only about halfway there, so far the walk has been filled with, I hope was, a comfortable silence. 

“So,” Shuhua said, swinging our arms, “Why exactly did you change your mind about me?” I tensed, I had almost forgotten that the past weekend I rejected her then proceeded to act like an absolute ding-dong. “I mean you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” she said frantically sensing my change in mood. 

I squeezed her hand, “I was just afraid you wouldn't like me if you knew me.” I think to myself, “I’m still afraid of that.” Before she could say anything I proceeded, “But then someone told me I was being dumb and that you’re great and I should just go for it and be myself.”

She waited a moment then said, “Minnie’s smart like that sometimes.” I let out the breath I was holding and chuckled. “You should know that I doubt, heavily, heavily doubt, that I will ever dislike you.”

“But how can you be so certain of that when you literally know nothing about me?” I ask and stop walking. I don't get how she keeps saying stuff like that when we haven’t even become friends yet.

She’s thinking hard now, “I can't think of a reason,” she laughs, “I just sort of know? Like I just feel,” she put her hand to her chest, “... feel intense. I’ve never liked someone so much, and if we’re right about me being able to sense auras before, yours felt special to me.” She looked me in the eyes, “Like you are special to me and not anybody else, because if you had some fancy aura or something Soyeon would have already fallen in love with you.” 

“I…” I don’t know what to say. How can she make me feel so reassured, so nice and calm? I’ve never thought about why I like her so much, is it the same reason? 

“Was that too much for a first date?” she chuckled nervously, “Sorry, it’s just my feelings have been building up for a month and they kinda just poured out. You should count yourself lucky that you don’t know Chinese, or else I might have gone all poetic on you.”

“I liked it, I just don’t know how to respond to that,” I confessed. 

She smiled, “Well that’s good enough for me,” she started walking again and I noticed that we were still holding hands. “We can talk about less heavy stuff when we eat.” Her stomach grumbled and she bushed, “Or maybe after, because I’m freaking starving.”

\------------------------------

“I’ve never actually been on a date before?” Shuhua said while admiring the seaweed soup that was just placed before her, while also stealing a glance at my bulgogi. 

“Really?”

“Yeah, I’ve always had bad luck with people before this,” she shrugged and blew on her soup. 

“Oh, I thought you would have been popular, considering you’re really pretty,” that came out a lot flirtier than I meant it too.

She coughed, trying to hide her blush, “Ha well have you dated before, you also seem like you would be popular.” 

“I’ve dated a few guys before, been in a relationship too, but it only lasted a few months, so does that really count?” 

“In high school years a few months is like a few years.” She took a spoonful of soup, “Oh my God this is so good.” Maybe I should make seaweed soup. “That means MiMin are practically an old married couple.” 

I chuckled, “I guess you can put it that way.” 

We talked the rest of the dinner. I’ve never been able to just talk to someone I don’t know like I talk with Shuhua. She told me about her little sister being a devil of some sorts, ‘but the good kind’, she said. She also said that she has a dog named Haku and that Minnie said to get another one named Mata so it could be like ‘Hakuna Matata’, and she seemed ecstatic about the idea. Then she mentioned that she loves sweets and chocolate, and I told her I didn’t like chocolate, she said she would change that. I didn’t reveal nearly as much, only brushing over the fact that my parents are divorced and my mother is a helicopter-mom. But I did tell her embarrassing stories about Soyeon and Miyeon from when we were little and I sent her all the pictures she found funny. Apparently they’re blackmail now. I told her my favorite color was red and she thought that was funny because it is the opposite of Water. Also she started playing with my hand once she finished eating and I had to eat the rest of my food with one hand and I also fed her some of mine because she was looking at my food the same way she was looking at me and for some reason that makes me feel a certain way. Anyway she’s already keeping her chocolate promise because she got brownies for dessert and I can’t say no when she offers me a piece. 

“Do you like it?”

“It’s… not bad,” definitely not terrible at least.

“Woohoo,” she fist bumped the air, “It’s a crime that you don’t like chocolate.” She shook her head, “Even lactose intolerant people like chocolate, but they can't eat it, which is sad. But you can’t eat it, but you don’t, which is simply a no go and an insult to people who can’t eat chocolate.” 

I laugh, “This seems to be very important to you.”

She nods, “Very.” I should make her brownies too. 

I ended up paying, Shuhua tried to argue by saying her money was Yuqi’s anyway. I argued back saying that either way Yuqi is paying because she pays me for tutoring. She couldn't rebuttal and we are on our way back to the dorms in the darkness of the evening. This time our arms were linked. I still haven’t told her about my mom and her powers. I should do that, she has the right to know. 

“I have something to tell you,” it’s now or never. 

“Wait no, me first!” she stopped walking. 

“What is it?” Is there something wrong?

She unlinked our arms and held both of my hands. “I have a question for you.” I waited for her to continue, we’re standing so close. “I know this is like the first date and whatever but I know that I want this so,” she took a deep breath and all I can focus on is her lips smiling at me. “... Will you, Miss Seo Soojin, be my Jinjin?” I giggled, I don't think that’s what she meant to say, but I appreciate the new nickname. “Wait- no- that’s not- I meant girlfriend. I ruined the moment, sorry I was just-” 

I kiss her. She froze, but then kisses back almost immediately after. My hands are cupping her face, and her hands are still holding mine. And then she moves them to my waist and I gasp, because it feels nice, it gives her an opportunity to slip her tongue inside my mouth. We fight for dominance, but when she pulls me impossibly close against her, I lose with a whine. For never being on a date before she’s really good at kissing, I need to ask her about that later.

\------------------------------

The way back took longer than the way there, for obvious reasons, but I shouldn’t think about it or I’ll blush more than I already am. We’re currently walking back up the stairs, arms linked, and in comfortable silence. I don’t want to say goodbye yet but curfew is at 10 so we only have 10 minutes. And we’ve arrived at her dorm. 

“So,” she started, “you never answered my question from earlier.” 

“I think my answer was in there somewhere.”

“That means yes right?”

I chuckle, “It means yes times 1000.”

“That’s cheesy,” she blushed. We stood there for a couple more minutes. “I think I can hear Yuqi leaning against the door.”

“I think you’re probably right.”

“Okay, I guess I should say Goodnight then,” she said disappointingly.

“You’re probably right about that too.”

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Shushu.” She smiled widely at the nickname and eventually opened her door slightly. 

“Okay, just one more,” she leaned up and gave me a quick peck on the lips, “Bye bye,” she squealed and shut her door. That was too cute. 

I turned around and headed for the stairs, and I swear I heard an ‘Oh my God, did you just do that!?’ from her room as I rounded the corner. 

\------------------------------

I closed my door and immediately fell down on my bed, probably smiling like an idiot.

My lights turned on suddenly, “Well, well what do we have here?” I shot up, only to be faced with a smirking Minnie. 

“You scared me,” I threw a pillow at her. 

“You were too dreamy to notice me.”

“What are you even doing here?”

“I’m here to ask if she took the speech well,” she sat down on the bed with me. I looked at her guiltily. She groaned, “You didn’t tell her,” she stated.

“I got distracted.”

“With what?”

“Her,” I blushed. 

“You fox,” she shoved me. “I didn’t think it would go that well.”

“Hey,” I glare at her. 

“Sorry sorry,” she put her hands up, “I’m only joking,” she laughs. She stands up and opens the door, “But you have to tell her soon,” she said seriously, “so that we can do something about it and so that I can tell Miyeon.” 

“I will,” I said truthfully, “I just need to find the right time, today wasn’t exactly the right time.”

“Okay, I get it, but soon Soojin, I already had to tell Mr. Choi Shuhua started on Air, your mother probably knows you’re lying to her now.” I nodded and she left. 

I laid back down, this time with a frown. Why does everything have to be so complicated?

\------------------------------

Lunch time, the bell rang, signaling all of the students that it was time to eat. Ever since last week I have been sitting with the group, and maybe I have misjudged the severity of my reputation because all of a sudden people are starting to try to talk to me. 

“Hey Soojin, I heard you’re dating Shuhua,” someone from my class said, I think her surname was Yoo, “Good for you she’s a catch,” she patted my back and walked away. Well news does travel fast I guess.

“Soojin, do you think you could help me learn how to do that ice wall thing you did today in class, I seriously have no idea how you freeze water so quickly,” another girl said. 

“I’m not a good teacher.”

“Oh okay,” she left too.

This is weird, I don’t like it. Not that people are bad or anything I just don’t particularly enjoy their presence. I enter the cafeteria, get my food and sit down next to Minnie, Shuhua and Yuqi weren't here yet. 

“So how did it go?” Soyeon asked, she was sitting where Shuhua usually sits which means that Shuhua will sit in front of me today. I have a feeling she already knows how it went.

“Oh, Minnie told me it went great,” Miyeon said happily for me.

Soyeon nodded, “Yuqi said something similar.” 

Minnie smirked, “Lisa works at the restaurant and she said they were all over each other,” Miyeon giggled and shoved her slightly. 

“I’m glad,” Soyeon said.

“Jinjin!” I heard Shuhua's voice, say from behind me. I subconsciously smiled. Yuqi and Shuhua sat down. “Guess what?” she sounded excited. 

“What?” I smiled and I could see Yuqi wiggling her eyebrows at everyone from the corner of my eyes. 

She lowered her head and whispered, “I can do Water now,” she squealed. 

“What?” I breathed out. This is bad. Minnie shoved my foot from under the table, “I mean, really? How?”

“Okay so last night I was taking a shower and usually when I take showers the Water scares me a bit but I can deal with it, but then like halfway through the water stopped falling on me so I opened my eyes and it was in the air,” she said quickly.

“Whoa, stopping moving water that’s pretty-”

“Pretty dang cool,” Yuqi interrupted me. Shuhua glared at her, “Sorry, continue madam.” 

“I was going to say advanced, usually it takes a few months to learn how to control moving water.”

She shrugged, “Maybe it was just an instinct thing.” 

“No Shuhua, you’re ridiculously good at every element,” Miyeon said, “Personally I think this is favoritism on God’s part.” 

Minnie scoffed, “Something like that.” 

I haven’t actually thought of why Shuhua was so good at the elements before. Weird. But if that’s a consistency that comes with the operations, we’re in even more trouble than before. Again, why does everything have to be so complicated. 

My phone buzzed, it’s my mom; ‘I heard you haven’t been giving me all the information we need, it is crucial that I know everything so all goes to plan when we try again. Don’t undermine me, if you do this again I will make sure that the girl is taken to me at once instead of developing there like you requested.’ Great, now what I am supposed to do?

“Hey are you okay?” Shuhua asked and tapped my foot with her own.

I smiled at the gesture, “yeah it’s just my mom asking about my grades.” Minnie tensed, but I ignored her and kept looking at Shuhua. 

“Okay,” she kept her foot where it was.

Minnie elbowed me discreetly and gave me a face that said ‘What did she say?’ I passed her my phone on the table. She read it and said, “Whoa,” under her breath. 

“What is it?” Yuqi asked.

“Oh just a meme Soojin has on her phone,” Minnie said and turned off my phone. 

“Soojin doesn't know any memes,” Miyeon said.

“That’s why I didn’t say it was funny,” Minnie said cheekily. 

“Why are you acting weird?” Miyeon questioned her. 

“She’s finally going through puberty,” Yuqi said. 

Miyeon ignored her but the other chuckled, “You’ve been acting weird since yesterday, we need to talk,” Miyeon demanded, “after lunch.”

Minnie gulped, probably in fear, and nodded. Miyeon then went to converse with Jennie. Minnie turned to me and whispered in my ear, “If I cave today, there is no way she won’t tell Soyeon,” she warned me. Okay then, I guess I have to do this soon, that was the plan anyway, why does this suddenly feel so rushed?

“I feel like I’m the only one not in the Soojin loop,” Yuqi whined, “There was already Soyeon and Miyeon, but now Minnie and you are all buddy-buddy whispering, and Shuhua and you are probably playing with each others feet under the table,” she said to me. Shuhua blushed, because Yuqi was right, that is what we are doing. And Minnie and I just shrugged. “See you're even shrugging together,” she pointed at us accusingly. “I want a date with Soojin,” she declared out loud. 

“What?” Soyeon and Shuhua said together, more confused than angry. 

“A friend-date,” she smiled mischievously.

“Bu-” Shuhua started. 

“No buts. Pft butts,”

“Don’t I have a say in this?” I asked, Yuqi wouldn’t exactly be my first choice for a date.

“Nope, I’m your girlfriends best friend and that means you need to be my friend, according to Miyeon’s logic anyway.”

“She’s right,” Minnie said. 

I looked to Shuhua for help, “That kinda makes sense, I’m surprised I agree with Miyeon.” And there goes my only chance out of this. 

I sighed, “fine.”

“Yes!” she celebrated. “Dude I’m going on a date,” she bragged to Soyeon. 

“Good for you babe,” she said. 

\------------------------------

It’s the middle of class and we’re making snow. This is probably one of the most advanced gifts we will learn, but surprise surprise the Ice Queen already knows how to do it. This is when class gets boring. I’m sitting down against the wall, when my phone buzzes again, it’s a call not a text this time. It’s Miyeon, I guess Minnie caved. I walked out the class room with my stuff, not even bothering to tell the teacher because I knew he wouldn’t care. That’s my mom’s doing, sometimes she does things that aren’t exactly terrible. 

“Hello,” I answered as soon as I entered the hall. 

“Music room, now,” she said and hung up. The last time she was that angry was when I accidentally pushed her into the river at the Heart in 9th grade.

It only took a couple minutes to get to the room. I kinda don’t want to go in. Good thing the door just opened for me. Bad thing it’s Miyeon who opened it. 

“Are you actually insane?” she said and dragged me inside slamming the door shut.

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry,” she mocked, “How long have you known about dad?”

I looked at her apologetically, “Since it started.”

“And when did it start?”

“8th grade,” I looked at the ground. 

“Soojin are you kidding me!?”

“Mother told me to keep it a secret, and I had only just met you then, but it was all over a year later and I thought it didn’t matter anymore. Then you started dating Minnie, and your parents separated, and I didn’t think hating your father anymore would help, so I just never told you,” my staring contest with the ground seemed never ending at this point. She hasn’t said anything. I looked up and he was looking at me with furrowed eyebrows and crossed arms, “I'm sorry.”

“Why do you never tell me anything?” she sighed. 

“What?”

“You always keep everything inside ant try to figure it out on your own,” she explained, “This, your feelings for Shuhua, your fear of your mother, that boy you dated in 10th grade, the fact that you know taekwondo and dancing, you’re separation issues from your dad, shall I go on?”

“I don’t need to bother you with those things,” I said.

“Yes you do,” she said, “I’m your best friend, I’m the one you’re supposed to go to when you’re vulnerable, you’re the one that I go to when I’m vulnerable. That’s the reason you probably know more of the stupid things that Minnie has done than you probably should.” She uncrossed her arms, “And you’re a great listener, but I don’t think you realized that I have ears too.” 

Why do people keep making me speechless recently? “I’m sorry,” is all I could think to say. And it’s true I feel bad that I don’t confide in Miyeon. She’s right, I know she’s there for me, but then why is it so hard to open up?

“Don’t be sorry,” she shook her head. “It’s okay, I just want you to know that you can tell me anything.” That’s it, this is my breaking point, I can start to see my vision getting blurry. She hugs me, and I know she’s not mad.

\------------------------------

There’s a knock on my door about 10 minutes after school ended. I get up tiredly and open it. 

“Hiya!” Yuqi smiled brightly.

“Hi?” What is she- okay she’s in my room now. I close the door, “What’s happening.”

“We’re gonna have our date now,” she sat at my table. “Sit please,” she gestured to the chair across from her. 

“Umm, okay.” How can someone be so blithe and carefree? I sat down wearily, “What now?”

“Now you tell me all about yourself.” She pondered by stroking a fake beard, “What’s your favorite word?”

“I’ve never thought about it.”

“Hmm, okay, favorite color?”

“Red.”

“Favorite food?”

“Meat.”

“Favorite season?”

“Winter.”

She chuckled, “Cause you’re the Ice Queen?” 

“No.”

She pretended to clear her throat, “Anyways favorite kpop group?”

“(G)I-DLE.”

“Ooh samesies,” she chuckled. “Do you like any shows?”

“Nothing in particular.”

This kept going on for, in my opinion, way too long. I guess the purpose of this whole thing is being met at least. She’s learning about me and I’m learning about her. But to be honest this is going so fast the only things I remember so far are the fact that she loves corgis, wants to ride a giraffe, and knows how to play the guitar. She also isn’t afraid to ask anything and everything I know about Soyeon, maybe that’s the reason she came here. But from the way she's reacting to my answers, maybe she’s just genuinely curious about me.

“How about your favorite ice cream flavor.”

“Vanilla.”

“Boring, how about something like chocolate?”

“I don’t like chocolate.”

She gasps, “That’s ludicrous, chocolate is Shuhua’s favorite thing.”

“I know that.”

“Because she’s your girlfriend?” she smirks.

“Yes.”

“Did you know that Shuhua hates strawberries?” 

Stopped slouching back and scooted forward, I like this topic, “No, how can you not like strawberries?”

“That’s what I’m saying,” she agreed. She thought more, “Did you know she goes to sleep the moment she gets to the dorm?”

“No.”

“She hates exercise.”

“She mentioned that.”

“She went to parties all the time back home.”

“Oh really? That’s interesting.” Parties don't exactly have the most favorable image. 

“And at those parties she-” We were interrupted by my door slamming open. Miyeon did say she would tell Soyeon today. “Oh hi Soyeonie, we were just having our date,” Yuqi waved. 

I turned around, and great Miyeon and Minnie were there too. Minnie closed the door. “She didn’t tell her anything yet,” she said. 

“What exactly is going on?” Soyeon started, “Miyeon told me you know why Shuhua possesses all the Elements and somehow that means she’s in danger?” She looked concerned, “I knew you were keeping secrets but I didn’t think it would be something this big. She sat on my bed. “Now hurry up and tell me so we can fix whatever mess this is,” she ordered. Miyeon and Minnie sat down behind her, like she was their boss and they were her bodyguards. Although I'm sure if that were the case Soyeon would probably be the one trying to protect them, like she seems to be doing to Shuhua right now. 

“What is she talking about?” Yuqi said. 

I sighed and stood up, “You’re going to want to sit down,” I nodded my head at my bed.

“I am sitting down.”

“I meant next to Soyeon,” I snapped.

“Ah,” she made an ‘okay’ sign with her hand and jumped onto my bed. 

“You,” I pointed to Yuqi, “No words.” She made another ‘okay’ sign. 

I looked at Miyeon for encouragement, she nodded for me to start, “So…”

\------------------------------

“We need to stop her,” Soyeon said after processing what I had said. 

“Wait wait wait, you’re saying you knew about this from the start?” Yuqi questioned. 

“Yes, and I’m sor-”

“So what?” Soyeon said, “It’s not like she had much choice in the matter, and she told us now anyway, we still have time to do something about this, so let’s plan.”

“Wait wait wait, my parents knew about this and didn't tell me?” 

“They probably have their reasons,” Miyeon said. 

“Wait wait wait, this is the secret Mei has? Wild.”

Minnie looked annoyed, “Anyway, Soyeon, Soojin and I thought we could-”

“Wait wait wait, does this mean Shuhua has our parents DNA in her DNA?” She looked at me, “Does that make me her sister and y’all incse-”

“No it does not!” I blushed. “It means that a single gene, one that she already had was replaced with one from our parents, the elemental gene, which means that all she has from them is…” Oh that’s how she’s so good at everything. “She has a copy of their powers,” I realized. 

“What do you mean?” Minnie asked. 

“It means that she has already learned all her gifts,” Soyeon caught on, “and that means the reason it’s taken so long for each element to Awake is because her body was getting used to it. Yuqi’s dad is special and so is Soojin’s mom, that’s why everything else didn’t immediately show up, it took too long to process.”

“Ohh,” Yuqi said, “And the reason the other Elements showed up when they did was because she was exposed to them intimately. Although I don’t remember her being near fire at all.” She thought, “Maybe because Fire’s are composed of the ability to make fire, it gives them a similar property of actual fire in their protective skin, which makes sense because it’s composed of a form of oxidized carbon, which is almost fire. The chemical formula for fire being-”

“Ugh get to the point,” Minnie groaned. 

“Ha sorry, what I’m saying is Shuhua met me, and then she used super strength. Miyeon was being all jealous toward Shuhua, then she sneezed. Minnie flew in front of Shuhua, then she flew too. Shuhua kissed Soojin, and then she controlled water,” she smiled, “It’s simple, Elementals have their element’s embedded physically into them. For Water and Fire it’s obviously their skin; for Air I would assume something to do with the respiratory system; Spirit might be in their minds, or something cool like that; and Earth could be, hmm,” she thought and suddenly smirked, “In the abs, mine are rock hard. Pft you get it ‘rock’ hard.”

Minnie chuckled, “I get it.” 

“It’s not funny,” Miyeon said. 

“Sorry,” Minnie said. 

“Okay so now that that’s over with,” Soyeon began, “What was it Minnie and you thought we could do?”

“Oh yeah,” I said, “We wanted to get Yuqi’s parents to help, maybe find a way to help her escape somewhere.” 

“Okay that’s a start,” Soyeon nodded, “We’ll ask them at Yuqi’s surprise birthday party next week.”

“What!?” Yuqi shouted and stood up, “You ruined the surprise,” she pouted. 

“Sorry, now it’s just a regular birthday party, okay?” she held her hand and brought her back down.

“Fine,” she frowned. 

“You have until then to tell Shuhua, none of us are going to do it for you, she would hate to hear it from anybody else,” Soyeon told me. 

Well that’s longer than I thought I had, “Okay,” I agreed. 

I can do this, no problem at all, no siree. I will just go up to that beautiful face tonight, no tomorrow, and I’ll tell her point blank. Easy peasy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought I uploaded this during my lunch, but then I got home and realized it was still saved as a draft. Rip me and school wifi. And after I said I was going to be all professional and consistent too :/
> 
> Anyways I hope Sooshu makes up for it, sorry.
> 
> Next Chapter: Everyone meets Haku.


End file.
